This thesis presents development of microwave lumped elements for a specific surface-micromachining based technology, a self-contained mechanical characterization of fixed-fixed type beams and realization of a shunt, capacitive-contact RF MEMS switch for millimeter-wave applications.
Interdigital capacitor, planar spiral inductor and microstrip patch lumped elements developed in this thesis are tailored for a surface-micromachining technology incorporating a single metallization layer, which allows an easy and low-cost fabrication process while permitting mass production. Utilizing these elements, a bandpass filter is fabricated monolithically with success, which exhibits a measured in-band return loss better than -20 dB and insertion loss of 1.2 dB, a pass-band located in S-band and a stop-band extending up to 20 GHz.
Analytical derivations for deflection profile and spring constant of fixed-fixed beams are derived for constant distributed loads while taking axial effects into account. Having built experience with the mechanical domain, next, Finite Difference solution schemes are established for pre-pull-in and post-pull-in electrostatic actuation problems. Using the developed numerical tools / pull-in, release and zipping phenomena are investigated. In particular, semi-empirical expressions are developed for the pull-in voltage with associated errors not exceeding 3.7 % of FEA (Finite Element Analysis) results for typical configurations.
The shunt, capacitive-contact RF MEMS switch is designed in electromagnetic and mechanical domains for Ka-band operation. Switches fabricated in the first process run could not meet the design specifications. After identifying sources of relevant discrepancies, a design modification is attempted and re-fabricated devices are operated successfully. In particular, measured OFF-state return and insertion losses better than
-16.4 dB and 0.27 dB are attained in 1-40 GHz. By applying a 20-25V actuation, ON-state resonances are tuned precisely to 35 GHz with an optimum isolation level of 39 dB.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12611618/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 February 2010 |
| Creators | Cetintepe, Cagri |
| Contributors | Demir, Simsek |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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