Analytical and Experimental Study of Fabrication Process Induced Stress on Pull-in Behaviour of Fixed-Fixed Beam RF-MEMS Switches

In this manuscript, the effect of fabrication process induced stress on pull-in behaviour of Radio Frequency Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (RF-MEMS) switch has been analytically and experimentally studied. The effect and compensation of process residual stress on pull-in behaviour of RF-MEMS switch is discussed. Inevitable process induced residual stress is compensated up to 200Mpa in novel design. Due to such high tensile stress, in conventional fixed-fixed beam switch, measured pull-in was found 70% higher than the design value. An improved flexure based stress compensated design with low actuation voltage was designed, fabricated and characterized, wherein; pull-in voltage was measured as per design value.