High speed, single cycle resolution reliability system for RF-MEMS switches

摘要

This paper presents a novel platform for high speed, single cycle resolution lifetime testing of RF-MEMS switches and the results collected. The platform utilizes an FPGA based monitoring system to allow switch cycling up to 45 kHz. In addition, multiple real-time resistance measurements are made each cycle, allowing the accurate detection of intermittent failures. Each measurement is then analyzed and all failures, as well as a periodic sample of passing cycles, are stored and transferred to an external PC for further analysis. Results presented here verify the platform's functionality. Moreover, the results indicate that brief intermittent failures can occur hundreds of millions of cycles before end of life failure, which illustrates the need for single cycle resolution when qualifying RF-MEMS switches for use in larger RF systems. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported reliability system capable of single cycle resolution at high cycling frequencies.