ELECTROTHERMALLY-ACTUATED RF-MEMS DEVICES MANUFACTURED ON A LOW-RESISTIVITY SUBSTRATE
D. GIRBAU, L.L. PRADELL, M.A. LLAMAS, A. LÁZARO, A. NEBOT

Abstract. This paper presents a review of the design, implementation and characterization of several electrothermally-actuated RF MEMS devices on lowresistivity substrates. It addresses lateral resistive-contact RF-MEMS switches for application to low GHz communication bands, which are driven by metal electrothermal actuators, achieving large displacements and contact forces at much lower temperatures than traditional polysilicon electrothermal actuators. They are manufactured on a standard low-resistivity substrate and their RF performance is improved by suspending the structures 25 µm from the substrate. Measured Sparameters and first results of their RF power handling characteristics are given. A high-force large-displacement vertical electrothermal actuator is also proposed, which is applied as driving element in parallel-plate RF capacitors.
Index Terms: MEMS parallel switch, low-resistivity substrate, resistive-contact, vertical and lateral electrothermal actuator.