Study of a tunable MEMS capacitor: influence of fluids

International audienceIn this letter we evaluate the effect of a dielectric liquid on the tunability of capacitor operating in RF domains. The RF measurement shows a high variations of the resonant frequency accompanied with a low insertion loss. Moreover, the fluid positions between electrodes modifies the capacitance value up to Tr = 6660% at 600MHz. The quality factor decreases in response of water filling from Qmax = 51.9 when it is empty to Qmin = 1.49 when it is fully filled. According to the FEM analysis, the change of the dielectric permittivity influences the capacitor performances. Essentially, the tuning range of the capacitance and the quality factor could reach respectively: Tr = 7660% and Qmin = 35.