An Electromechanical and Radio Frequency Analysis of RF Mems Switch Using Staircase Shaped Spring for 5G Telecommunication

Abstract A new and innovative design capacitive type of RF MEMS switch using a staircase shaped spring made of a high dielectric constant material titanium dioxide (TiO2) is presented in this paper. A spring constant of 2.18 N/m is used to enhance the performance of the electromechanical parameters such as actuation voltage and switching time of the designed switch. The proposed switch resulted in actuation voltages of 2.3 V and 6.7 V for 1 µm and 2 µm air-gaps, respectively. The RF analysis of the proposed switch was conducted in the frequency sweep of 1–40 GHz. The best isolation obtained was − 28.02 dB at 9 GHz during the OFF state of the switch with a fast-switching time of 33 µs. The optimum return loss during the ON state of the switch was found to be -47.84 dB and − 52.26 dB for 1 µm and 2 µm air-gaps, respectively. The insertion loss of the proposed capacitive switch over the applied frequency sweep was also determined to be within − 0.01 to -0.24 dB. The evaluation and optimization of the electromechanical and RF parameters of the switch were accomplished by utilizing COMSOL Multiphysics and ANSYS HFSS, respectively. From the analysis of the proposed switch it is evident that it is suitable for use in 5G telecommunication applications.