MEMS for microwaves

Updated January 12, 2006

MEMS Tree of Woe

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The riddle of MEMS...

"Conan, what switch technology is...

slower than PIN diodes,

more expensive than PIN diodes,

has less isolation than PIN diodes,

has less power handling than PIN diodes,

has a temperature range of approximately +/- 1 degrees Celcius,

gets stuck ON when you least expect it,

needs up to a 70 volt DC pull-down voltage,

costs only a dime but requires a fifty dollar package because it can't be environmentally coated yet can't work if it gets a little dirty,

and can kill your career?"

That's right, the answer can only be MEMS. Fabricated using "mysterio-lithography", the subject of MEMS used to take up entire days at the yearly IMS symposium, now it seems but a footnote to any microwave conference. Once the promised land for ultra-low-loss phase shifters for cheap antenna arrays (just Google on MEMS phase shifters and you will see many papers written between 2000-2002), MEMS are still an emerging technology after many years in the sandbox. Sure, you can buy a 6 GHz MEMS switch from at least two vendors. But you can buy a better switch from 100 vendors in alternative technologies, so don't end up on the MEMS Tree of Woe! MEMS vendors include no one that is currently paying us, so we won't mention any of them!

MEMS stands for micro-electro-mechanical systems. Two broad categories of MEMS microwave switches are contacting and non-contacting. In the case of non-contacting, a capacitive contact establishes the on position.

More to come... but not any time soon!

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