Cycling reliability of RF-MEMS switches with Gold–Platinum multilayers as contact material
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Giorgio De Angelis; Paola Farinelli; Romolo Marcelli; Andrea Lucibello; Benno Margesin; Viviana Mulloni
- Source
- Microsystem Technologies. 23:3843-3850
- Subject
- 010302 applied physics
Microelectromechanical systems
Materials science
Equivalent series resistance
business.industry
Capacitive sensing
Contact resistance
Thin layer
chemistry.chemical_element
02 engineering and technology
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
Condensed Matter Physics
01 natural sciences
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
chemistry
Hardware and Architecture
0103 physical sciences
Optoelectronics
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
0210 nano-technology
business
Cycling
Platinum
Shunt (electrical)
- Language
- ISSN
- 1432-1858
0946-7076
Contact resistance is the main parameter used for assessing the high cycling reliability of RF microelectromechanical (RF-MEMS) switches. In this paper the use of a modified contact material is tested and compared to pure gold in cycling experiments performed on a RF-MEMS switch in shunt capacitive configuration. The modified contact material is a gold-based multilayer with a thin layer of platinum sandwiched between two layers of gold. The experiment consists in comparing devices with the same layout but with different contact material. While the two types of switch start with similar RF performances, the device with the modified material shows a marked improvement in cycling reliability and a lower series resistance up to 106 cycles when compared to gold contact devices.