Modeling and Characterization of the Dynamic Behavior of RF MEM Switches

Research on RF MEMS devices showed an amazing growth during the last few years because of their intrinsic physical properties and interesting new application made possible by them. One of these devices are Radio Frequency (RF) Micro-electro-mechanical switches, that have shown better characteristics than the traditional switches like PIN diodes or GaAs FETs. The advantages of these kind of switches are high isolation, low insertion loss, low cost and low power consumption. Nonetheless there are still some hurdles that must be taken in order to make these devices commercially attractive, i.e. improving the, up to now, low switching speed and reduce the high actuation voltages [4][5]. Regarding the switching speed the study of air damping that influences strongly the dynamic behavior of the switches can be helpful in optimizing the MEM switches