Development of a double-pole double-throw radio frequency micro electro-mechanical systems switch using an ‘S’ shaped pivot

Mohammed A. Al-Amin (), Sufian Yousef, Barry Morris, Hassan Shirvani and Michael Cole
Additional contact information
Mohammed A. Al-Amin: Anglia Ruskin University
Sufian Yousef: Anglia Ruskin University
Barry Morris: Anglia Ruskin University
Hassan Shirvani: Anglia Ruskin University
Michael Cole: Anglia Ruskin University

International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, No 15, 173-179

Abstract: Abstract This paper investigates the design of a novel pivot for a seesaw, RF MEMS, double-pole double-throw (DPDT) switch, which has been developed to operate within mobile communication systems and devices. The pivot employs a unique ‘S’ structure at the nano scale, in the form of a, which helps to keep von-Mises stresses below 21 MPa. The pivot requires less pulling force than similar designs due to its flexibility which allows the beam and contacts a greater space of separation while the switch is off. This in turn results in improved contact isolation of greater than −77 dB at 5 GHz. The RF MEMS switch is an improvement over the previously published paper (Al-Amin et al. in International symposium on microelectronics, vol 2013, no 1, pp 000831–000835, 2013. doi: 10.1109/ECS.2014.6892558 ), since the pulling force of the electrostatic plates can be generated with a voltage which is greatly reduced from 14 to 8 V using the same electrostatic plate area size. The switch is a progression from SPST and DPDT seesaw switching since it provides improved flexibility over the previously described devices. With the redesign of the pivot the switch attains a greater ‘air-gap’ between the contacts when open-circuited which therefore allows for improved isolation during the off-state.

Keywords: DPDT; Electromagnetic analysis; Pivot; RF MEMS; Seesaw (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13198-016-0514-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ijsaem:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s13198-016-0514-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/engineering/journal/13198

DOI: 10.1007/s13198-016-0514-3

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management is currently edited by P.K. Kapur, A.K. Verma and U. Kumar

More articles in International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management from Springer, The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().