A reliable fast miniaturized RF MEMS-on-CMOS switched capacitor with zero-level vacuum package

This paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of a reliable fast miniaturized RF MEMS-on-CMOS switched capacitor monolithically integrated in a low cost, standard 0.18 pm CMOS technology with zero-level vacuum package. Measured results demonstrate a tuning range of 1:1.9 with a quality factor of 239 at 1 GHz. The mechanical resonance is 6.28 MHz and results in a switching time of only 77.5 ns under 36-V actuation voltage. Preliminary reliability test for 1700 on-off cycles shows neither dielectric charging nor degradation.

I. Introduction

The bandwidth saturation of the RF spectrum, driven largely by smartphones, tablets, and video streaming [1] has brought the need for more sophisticated tunable devices. Switched RF MEMS capacitors are among the best candidates for reconfigurable systems thanks to their low losses, high linearity and very low power consumption compared to their solid-state counterpart [2].