Paper
21 June 2000 Semiconductor polymer-based rf MEMS and its applications to microwave systems
Vijay K. Varadan, K. A. Jose, K. J. Vinoy, Vasundara V. Varadan
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
During the past decade, several new fabrication techniques have evolved which helped popularize micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), and numerous novel devices have been reported in diverse areas of engineering and science. One such area is microwave and millimeter wave systems. MEMS technology for microwave applications should solve many intriguing problems of high frequency technology for wireless communications. The recent and dramatic developments of personal communication devices forced the market to acquire miniaturized efficient devices, which is possible only by the development of RF MEMS. Semiconductor- polymer based sensor use silicon use silicon or compound semiconductors as inorganic parts with sensitive polymers as insulating, semiconducting or conductive materials. Organic thin film transistor has also been fabricated using this concept. These devices may allow control circuitry to be integrated with 2D or 3D MEMS. Interdigital type RF-MEMS can be designed and fabricated with Interdigital Electrodes (IDE) deposited on either polymer or an inorganic material such as Barium Strontium Titanate (BST). In the case of polymer-based device, we study the capacitance change and calibrate it for desired sensing application. In the inorganic case, we make use of the change in dielectric properties of BST as a function of DC bias. IDE will act like a RF filter and oscillator just like the comb-type RF MEMS devices. These polymeric based devices can be integrated with organic thin film transistors. RF switches, tuners and filters are some of the initial applications of RF MEMS although many others are still under development. In this paper we present the design and development of few devices such as phase shifters, switches and IDT capacitors. It is observed that, dielectric constant of BST thin film changes by more than 50 percent with an applied bias voltage of 25 V dc, which could therefore be easily implemented in RF switch.
© (2000) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Vijay K. Varadan, K. A. Jose, K. J. Vinoy, and Vasundara V. Varadan "Semiconductor polymer-based rf MEMS and its applications to microwave systems", Proc. SPIE 3990, Smart Structures and Materials 2000: Smart Electronics and MEMS, (21 June 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.388921
Lens.org Logo
CITATIONS
Cited by 4 scholarly publications.
Advertisement
Advertisement
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission  Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace
KEYWORDS
Polymers

Microelectromechanical systems

Antennas

Phase shifts

Switches

Dielectrics

Microwave radiation

RELATED CONTENT

Semiconductor-polymer-based rf MEMS
Proceedings of SPIE (September 29 1999)
Lifetime characteristics of ohmic MEMS switches
Proceedings of SPIE (December 23 2003)
Stripline microwave phase shifter on tunable substrate
Proceedings of SPIE (May 26 1995)
Lifetime characterization of capacitive RF MEMS switches
Proceedings of SPIE (January 22 2005)

Back to Top