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This paper proposes a novel high-capacitance-ratio radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF MEMS) switch. The proposed RF MEMS mainly consists of serpentine flexure MEMS metallic beam, comprised of coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line, dielectric and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) floating metallic membrane. Comparing the proposed high-capacitance-ratio MEMS switch with the ones in available literature, an acceptable insertion loss insulation, acceptable response time and high capacitance ratio (383.8) are achieved.

In this paper, a silicon-based radio frequency micro-electromechanical systems (RF MEMS) pattern reconfigurable antenna for a Ka-band application was designed, analyzed, fabricated, and measured. The proposed antenna can steer the beam among three radiating patterns (with main lobe directions of −20°, 0°, and +20° approximately) at 35 GHz by switching RF MEMS operating modes. The antenna has a low profile with a small size of 3.7 mm × 4.4 mm × 0.4 mm, and consists of one driven patch, four parasitic patches, two assistant patches, and two RF MEMS switches. The active element pattern method integrated with signal flow diagram was employed to analyze the performances of the proposed antenna. Comparing the measured results with analytical and simulated ones, good agreements are obtained.

The K-band microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) tunable band-pass filter, with a wide-frequency tunable range and miniature size, is able to fulfill the requirements of the multiband satellite communication systems. A novel 21.69–24.36 GHz MEMS tunable band-pass filter is designed, analyzed, fabricated and measured. This paper also designs and analyzes an inductively tuned slow-wave resonator, which consists of the MEMS capacitive switch, the MEMS capacitor and the short metal line. The proposed filter has four different work states by changing the capacitance values of the MEMS switches. Measured results demonstrate that, for all four states, the insertion loss is 2.81, 3.27, 3.65 and 4.03 dB at 24.36, 23.2, 22.24 and 21.69 GHz, respectively. The actuation voltage is 0, 20, 16 and 26 V, respectively. The 3 dB bandwidth of the tunable filter is 5.4%, 6.2%, 5.7% and 5.9%, respectively. This study contributes to the design of miniature millimeter tunable filters with a wide-frequency tunable range.

This paper proposes a radiating pattern reconfigurable antenna by employing RF Micro-electromechanical Systems (RF MEMS) switches. The antenna has a low profile and small size of 4 mm × 5 mm × 0.4 mm, and mainly consists of one main patch, two assistant patches, and two RF MEMS switches. By changing the RF MEMS switches operating modes, the proposed antenna can switch among three radiating patterns (with main lobe directions of approximately −17.0°, 0° and +17.0°) at 35 GHz. The far-field vector addition model is applied to analyse the pattern. Comparing the measured results with analytical and simulated results, good agreements are obtained.

In this paper, an analytical method of capacitance and characteristic impedance is proposed, which is for asymmetrical coplanar waveguide with defected ground structure (ACPW-DGS). The capacitance equivalent model of ACPW-DGS is established. Using conformal mapping method and first category of incomplete elliptic integrals F(?, k), the closed-form expressions of capacitance and characteristic impedance are obtained for the first time. Computed results match the simulated ones well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, high on/off capacitance ratio radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical-systems (RF MEMS) switches are designed, fabricated, measured and analyzed. Two types of RF MEMS switches, a shunt switch with a contact point and an inline switch without a contact point, are presented. Metal–insulator–metal (MIM) fixed capacitors are used in the MEMS switches. The electrode topologies of RF MEMS switches are analyzed. The parameter λ is defined to describe the relationship between the capacitance ratio, the height of the beam and the actuation voltage. The measured results indicate that, for MEMS switch #1 with a contact point and gap of 1 µm, the insertion loss is better than 0.64 dB up to 40 GHz, and the isolation is more than 20 dB from 11.28 to 30.38 GHz with an actuation voltage of 42 V. For the inline MEMS with a displacement of 1.5 µm, the insertion loss is better than 0.56 dB up to 40 GHz, and the isolation is more than 20 dB from 4.45 to 30.48 GHz with an actuation voltage of 36 V. Circuit models and measured results of the proposed MEMS switches show good agreement. From the fitted results, the on/off capacitance ratio is ~227 for the MEMS switch #1 and ~313 for the MEMS switch #2, respectively. Compared with traditional MEMS capacitive switches with dielectric material Si3N4 and a relatively lower gap (1.5 µm), the proposed MEMS switches exhibit high on/off capacitance ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]