Design and Demonstration of Radio Frequency Micro Electro-Mechanical System Switches with Meandered Beams for Reduced Actuation Voltage

In this paper, a class of three series ohmic switches is presented, including its design principles, the simulation results, and the outcomes of the measurements performed on the first batch of fabricated samples. The design of the adopted membranes is based on meandered beams, targeting a reduced actuation voltage. The initial and promising electro-mechanical simulations, performed in an Ansys Workbench environment, predicted actuation voltages in the 5–8 V range, whereas the measurements highlighted slightly greater values. The electro-magnetic behavior of such devices demonstrated a general and qualitative agreement with the simulations performed in the Ansys HFSS environment, with a satisfying performance in terms of return loss (<−20.22 dB) and isolation (<−14.86 dB) along the 5–30 GHz interval.