RF MEMS RESEARCHAT THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

摘要

This paper addresses the use of RF MEMS devices in wireless and satellite communicationrnsystems. Novel configurations are presented for MEMS switches, MEMS variable capacitors andrnMEMS tunable inductors. The tuning range of the variable capacitor is found to be 400%, whichrnfar exceeds that of the traditional parallel plate MEMS variable capacitors. The proposedrnmultiport MEMS switches exhibit a superior RF performance up to 20 GHz. A novel concept forrnrealizing high power RF MEMS switches is also presented. The paper discusses the processesrnneeded to fabricate low-loss metal-based RF MEMS devices. It also describes the infrastructurernthat has been established recently at the University of Waterloo for the fabrication andrncharacterization of RF MEMS devices.