Distributed Multicontact RF MEMS Switch for Power Handling Capability Improvement

This paper presents an RF MEMS switch with distributed multi-contact structure for power handling capability improvement. The main advantages include: (a) the use of distributed contacts structure which can result in different resistances among different contacts to suppress the uneven current distribution caused by skin effect of the RF signal. (b) the proposed current uniformity factor (α) to illustrate the uneven distribution of the current. CoventorWare and HFSS are used to model the structure and simulate the performance. The simulated results indicate that the current uniformity factor of proposed switch is improved from 0.503 to 0.688, which results in a higher theoretical power handling capability. Measurement results show that the switch with distributed contacts can bear 2 W RF power @ 10 GHz for 2 hours under prolonged pull-down condition, which is higher than the switch with parallel contacts.