Reliability of Electrostatically Actuated RF MEMS Switches

The reliability of electrostatically actuated RF MEMS switches is reviewed with emphasis on recent advancements. Both ohmic and capacitive switches have been operated for more 100-billion cycles without failure. When they do fail, ohmic switches tend to fail catastrophically by stiction, whereas capacitive switches often degrade gradually through charging of their dielectric insulators. Approaches to mitigate and model dielectric charging are then presented.