High- Q Tunable Waveguide Filters Using Ohmic RF MEMS Switches

To reduce the complexity and cost of future telecommunication systems, electrically tunable or reconfigurable filters based on radio frequency microelectromechanical systems (RF MEMS) and waveguide technology constitute a very promising solution, since they allow for very high Q and good tunability. Three concepts for tunable waveguide filters using ohmic RF MEMS switches are described in this paper, and compared in terms of performance and manufacturing complexity. Quality factors of the order of 1000 and frequency tunability of the order of 5% are shown both by High-Frequency Structure Simulator simulations and experimental results in K-band.