Design and Performance of a J Band MEMS Switch

This paper presents a novel J band (220–325 GHz) MEMS switch design. The equivalent circuits, the major parameters, capacitance, inductance and resistance in the circuit were extracted and calculated quantitatively to carry out the radio frequency analysis. In addition, the mechanical property of the switch structure is analyzed, and the switching voltage is obtained. With the designed parameters, the MEMS switch is fabricated. The measurement results are in good agreement with simulation results, and the switch is actuated under a voltage of ~30 V. More importantly, the switch has achieved a low insertion loss of ~1.2 dB at 220 GHz and <~4 dB from 220 GHz to 270 GHz in the “UP” state, and isolation of ~16 dB from 220 GHz to 320 GHz in the “DOWN” state. Such switch shows great potential in the integration for terahertz components.