• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.41-46
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• 2005

In this paper, a new method for suppressing microwelding on the RF MEMS (Radio Frequency Microelectromechanical System) direct contact switches is introduced. Two kinds of refractory metals, tungsten and molybdenum were coated onto the contact point of the switches and the effect of the coating was examined. The changes in insertion loss and isolation at the switch were measured by using network analyzer and power loss was evaluated by power measurement. The results revealed that while tungsten and molybdenum showed higher contact resistance than gold in low input power range, they enhanced the power handling capability and reliability of the switches in high input power region.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.2417-2424
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• 2016

Small size and light weight is very important for components used in radar mounted platform such as airborne radar. Recently, the active phased array radar is developed as an array of antennas for thousands of transmit/receive modules to be used as a multi-function radar that can detect and track targets. In this case, the size and weight of the transmit/receive modules are critical factor for developing the radar. In this paper, we developed a compact transmit/receive module using the 10W RF MEMS switch domestically localizing and reduced the circuit area to about 86.5% compared to using a circulator. The developed module satisfies not only electrical requirements but also MIL-STD's environmental specifications. So it can be used in a military device. It can be used at adaptive tunable receivers, reconfigurable smart active antennas and wide band beam electrical steering antennas.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2000.07c
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• pp.2233-2235
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• 2000

We present the characteristics of microwave and mechanical behavior for the electrostatically actuated z-shaped laterally driven micriomachined CPW SPST(Single Pole Single Throw) Switch, which is for the application of the microwave communication systems. In this paper, we have aimed to maintain advantages. such as low insertion loss and low power consumption that the previously developed RF MEMS Switch has and minimize also stiction problem. enhance the microwave characteristics by etching of substrate beneath the switch, realize the pull-in voltage of below 30V. The optimized design parameters of the MEMS Switch can be selected by the analysis of the mechanical behavior and the use of ANSYS simulation method.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.35 no.11A
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• pp.1091-1096
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• 2010

Stiction in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) has been a major failure mechanism. Especially, in RF MEMS switches, moving parts often suffered in-use and release related stiction problems. Some materials and methods have been used to prevent this problem. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) has not only been used as a protective material owing to its good mechanical properties but also has been used as a hydrophobic material. Its properties could be controlled by post annealing treatment in various conditions. We synthesized DLC films using a radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF PECVD) method on silicon substrates using methane ($CH_4$) and hydrogen ($H_2$) gas. Then, the change of the hydrophobic property of the films was investigated undervarious annealing temperatures in nitrogen and in oxygen ambient. The films, that were annealed above $700^{\circ}C$ in nitrogen ambient, showed a high contact angle of water (> $90^{\circ}$) even though their mechanical property was sacrificed to some degree. The structural variation and the changes of the hydrophobic and mechanical properties of the DLC films were analyzed by Raman spectrum, contact angle measurement, surface profiler, and a nanoindentation test.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.203-209
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• 2004

Compliant bi-stable mechanism allows two stable states within its operation range staying at one of the local minimum states of the potential energy. Energy storage characteristics of the bi-stable mechanism offer two distinct and repeatable stable states, which require no power input to maintain it at each stable state. This paper suggests an equivalent model of the chevron-type bi-stable microactuator using the equivalent spring stiffness in the rectilinear and the rotational directions. From this model the range of spring stiffness where the bi-stable mechanism can be operated is analyzed and compared with the results of the FEA (Finite Element Analysis) using ANSYS for the buckling analysis, both of which show a good agreement. Based on the analysis, a newly designed chevron-type bi-stable MEMS actuator using hinges is suggested for the latch-up operation. It is found that the experimental response characteristics of around 36V for the bi-stable actuation for the 60$mu extrm{m}$ stroke correspond very well to the results of the equivalent model analysis after the change in cross-sectional area by the fabrication process is taken into account. Together with the resonance frequency experiment where 1760Hz is measured, it is shown that the chevron-type bi-stable MEMS actuator using hinges is applicable to the optical switch as an actuator.

• Journal of Satellite, Information and Communications
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.28-31
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• 2011

In this paper, a new set of structural and sacrificial material that is diamond like carbon (DLC)/photoresist for high performance piezoelectric RF-MEMS switches which are actuated in d33 mode is suggested. To avoid curing problem of photoresist sacrificial layer, DLC structure layer is deposited at room temperature by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) method. And lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric layer is deposited on structure layer directly at room temperature by rf magnetron sputtering system and crystallized by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) equipment. Particular attention is paid to the annealing of PZT film in order to crystallize into perovskite and the variation of mechanical properties of DLC layer as a function of annealing temperature. The DLC layer shows good performance for structure layer in aspect to Young's modulus and hardness. The fabrication becomes much simpler and cheaper with use of a photoresist.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2009

In this paper, the external matching circuits were designed in order to compensate the efficiency which decreases by human body effect in the internal antenna phone. Comparing the two types of matching circuit, we selected the structure to minimize the switch stress. RF MEMS switch using low voltage was compared with FET switch and measured the performance in the handset. Here, the detection circuit which can couple th reflection power from antenna was added in the handset and we set up the demonstration system that can compensate the loss of hand effect automatically. In this system, when hand effect occurred, the radiation power increased 2.5dB by operation the matching circuit.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.1511_1512
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• 2009

This paper presents a polarization switching antenna integrated with silicon RF MEMS SPDT switches in the form of a package. A low-loss quartz substrate made of SoQ (silicon-on-quartz) bonding is used as a dielectric material of the patch antenna, as well as a packaging lid substrate of RF MEMS switches. The packaging/antenna substrate is bonded with the bottom substrate including feeding lines and RF MEMS switches by BCB adhesive bonding, and RF energy is transmitted from signal lines to antenna by slot coupling. Through this approach, fabrication complexity and degradation of RF performances of the antenna due to the parasitic effects, which are all caused from the packaging methods, can be reduced. This structure is expected to be used as a platform for reconfigurable antennas with RF MEMS tunable components. A linear polarization switching antenna operating at 19 GHz is manufactured based on the proposed method, and the fabrication process is carefully described. The s-parameters of the fabricated antenna at each state are measured to evaluate the antenna performance.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1113-1119
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• 2013

In this letter, a new approach is proposed for the design of a multi antenna for MIMO wireless devices. The proposed antenna covers various LTE(Long Term Evolution) service bands: band 17(704~746 MHz), band 13(746~787 MHz), band 5(824~894 MHz), and band 8(880~960 MHz). The proposed main antenna consists of a conventional monopole antenna with an inverted L-shaped slit for wideband operation. The proposed the LTE sub antenna is based on a switch loaded loop antenna structure, with a resonance frequency that can be controlled by capacitance of a logic circuit. The tuning technique for the LTE Rx antenna uses a RF MEMS(Micro-Electro mechanical system) to match the impedances to realize the bands of interest. Because the two proposed antennas are polarized orthogonally to each other, the ECC(Envelope Correlation Coefficient) characteristic between two antennas was measured to be very low (below 0.06) with an isolation characteristic below -20 dB between the two antennas in the operating overall LTE bands. The proposed antenna is particularly attractive for mobile devices that integrate LTE multiple systems.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.07c
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• pp.2395-2397
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• 2005

A low voltage operated piezoelectric RF MEMS in-line switch has been realized by using silicon bulk micromachining technologies for advanced mobile/wireless applications. The developed RF MEMS in-line switches were comprised of four piezoelectric cantilever actuators with an Au contact metal electrode and a suspended Au signal transmission line above the silicon substrate. The measured operation dc bias voltages were ranged from 2.5 to 4 volts by varying the thickness and the length of the piezoelectric cantilever actuators, which are well agreed with the simulation results. The measured isolation and insertion loss of the switch with series configuration were -43dB and -0.21dB (including parasitic effects of the silicon substrate) at a frequency of 2GHz and an actuation voltage of 3 volts.