Novel RF-MEMS capacitive switching structures

This paper reports on novel RF-MEMS capacitive switching devices implementing an electrically floating metal layer covering the dielectric to ensure intimate contact with the bridge in the down state. This results in an optimal switch down capacitance and allows optimisation of the down/up capacitance ratio all that are not possible with standard characteristics compared to standard RF-MEMS capacitive switches, in the frequency range from 1 to 30 GHz. Down/up capacitance ratios higher than 450 have been measured, an improvement of a factor 34 over standard designs with equal size and using the same materials.