Kelvin probe microscopy for reliability investigation of RF-MEMS capacitive switches

In this work, we investigate the charging and reliability of interlayer dielectric materials that are used in the fabrication process of advanced RF-MEMS switches. In particular, the charge stored on the surface of a dielectric and the dynamic of this charge at nanometric scale are studied. More attention is given to the decay of the deposited charge by a variety of means: (1) surface conduction, (2) surface charge spreading due to self repulsion and (3) charge injection in the bulk of dielectric material. Kelvin force microscopy (KFM) measurements were performed for various injection time and bias voltage. These results suggest a dynamic charge and allow to predict the amount of charge injected into the dielectric.     

Effect of deposition conditions on charging processes in SiNx: Application to RF-MEMS capacitive switches

The paper presents a systematic investigation of dielectric charging in low temperature silicon nitride for RF-MEMS capacitive switches. The dielectric charging is investigated with the aid of Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) capacitors with different thickness dielectric film and symmetric and asymmetric metal contacts. The experimental results demonstrate that the charging process is almost symmetric in low temperature deposited silicon nitride. Experiments performed in both MIM and MEMS reveal that the charging process is strongly affected by temperature. Specifically at high temperatures the charging rate increases exponentially with temperature.     

Structure dependent charging process in RF MEMS capacitive switches

The paper investigates the dependence of charging process on the dielectric charging of radiation induced defects in Si₃N₄ and SiO₂ dielectric films, which are used in RF-MEMS switches. The radiation has been performed with 5 MeV alpha particles. The assessment has been carried out in Metal-Insulator-Metal capacitors with the thermally stimulated depolarization currents and discharge current transient methods. This allowed monitoring the defects introduction as a function of radiation fluence. The defects electrical characteristics that are the activation energy and corresponding depolarization time constant were determined from the evolution of the thermally stimulated current spectra and the transient response of discharge currents at different temperatures.     

An active heat-based restoring mechanism for improving the reliability of RF-MEMS switches

We propose an active mechanism to retrieve the functionality of RF-MEMS ohmic switches after stiction occurs. The mechanism exploits a micro-heater, embedded within the switch topology, to induce restoring forces on the stuck membrane (thermal expansion) when a current is driven through it. Our experimental investigations prove that driving a pulsed rather than a DC current into the heater, enables a successful release of the tested RF-MEMS stuck devices. The release of stuck RF-MEMS ohmic switches is demonstrated for a cantilever-type micro relay. The mechanism is suitable for a large variety of switch topologies, and it can be embedded with small changes and effort within most of the already existing RF-MEMS ohmic switches, increasing their reliability.     

Modeling of dielectric charging in electrostatic MEMS switches

The most important failure mechanism for electrostatic MEMS switches is dielectric charging, which contributes to a significant reduction of the device lifetime. In this study the correlation between the dielectric properties and the switch lifetime is evaluated. The conduction mechanism and trapping kinetics for two types of PECVD SiN_x are determined by I–V sweeps and constant-current injections from Metal–Insulator–Metal (MIM) capacitors. This type of procedure is used as a basis for modeling the charge build-up in a switch. Despite significant differences between the dielectrics, in terms of leakage current and trapping properties, the numerical model of charge build-up fits well with experimental data. We conclude that the switch lifetime can be correlated with the trapping properties of the dielectric itself.     

RF-MEMS开关的应用技术浅析

概述RF-MEMS开关的应用现状,针对RF-MEMS开关封装后射频性能恶化的问题,分析了封装的必要性,强调了单片级封装对功能化模块的集成优势;针对RF-MEMS开关的使用寿命不能满足系统应用的问题,比较不同的切换方式下的使用寿命,介绍冷切换与射频信号通断的时间关系,给出了一种延长开关使用寿命的解决方案。进一步推动RF-MEMS开关在系统方面的应用。     

Temperature study of the dielectric polarization effects of capacitive RF MEMS switches

This paper investigates both theoretically and experimentally the dielectric charging effects of capacitive RF microelectromechanical system switches with silicon nitride as dielectric layer. Dielectric charging caused by charge injection under voltage stress was observed. The amphoteric nature of traps and its effect on the switch operation were confirmed under both positive and negative control voltages. It has been confirmed that charging is a complicated process, which can be better described through the stretched exponential relaxation. This mechanism is thermally activated with an activation energy being calculated from the temperature dependence of the capacitance transient response. The charging mechanism, which is responsible for the pull-out voltage and the device failure, is also responsible for the temperature-induced shift of the capacitance minimum bias.     

Study of the actuation speed,bounces occurrences,and contact reliability of ohmic RF-MEMS switches

The influence of the bias signal waveform on the electromechanical dynamic response of ohmic RF-MEMS switches is here investigated by means of electromechanical characterizations and modelling procedures. The actuation transient of ohmic RF-MEMS switches was studied in this work developing a fast to compute, but comprehensive electromechanical model, using electromechanical parameters from experimental results. The developed model was then used to investigate how different bias waveforms influence the switch dynamic, in terms of actuation time, and bounces occurrences, and a practical solution to limit bounces, without compromising the actuation time was presented. Furthermore, it was demonstrated how it is possible to improve the reliability to cycling stress using ad hoc shaped bias signals.     

RF-MEMS switch design optimization for long-term reliability

This contribution presents an optimization strategy for the mechanical and geometrical characteristics of clamped–clamped dielectric-less RF-MEMS switches in order to enhance their reliability performances both in terms of switch properties control and long-term actuation behavior. The modifications mainly affect the switch membrane, which is made more robust, and the stopping pillar dimensions, while the switch dimensions are practically unaffected. In the case of the proposed ohmic switch, also the mobile contact region was redesigned in order to increase the contact force. Experimental measurements have demonstrated that the optimized version of the capacitive switch investigated shows an improved resistance to high bias voltages (up to 90 V), while the optimized ohmic switch shows a lower, more stable and more reproducible contact resistance. Long-term actuation measurements are analyzed in detail, proposing a model to evaluate the switch lifetime, which was found of the order of few years in the more conservative estimate in the case of capacitive switches. The lifetime estimates are less precise in the case of ohmic switches, mainly because the contact instability sums up with the charging contribution. In spite of the improved switch general properties, lifetime is however not increased with optimization. The most likely explanation is that the optimization strategy was aimed at reducing charge injection and charge non-uniformity, but other effects can be important in lifetime determination.     

Dielectric charging in silicon nitride films for MEMS capacitive switches: Effect of film thickness and deposition conditions

The paper presents a systematic investigation of the dielectric charging and discharging process in silicon nitride thin films for RF-MEMS capacitive switches. The SiN films were deposited with high frequency (HF) and low frequency (LF) PECVD method and with different thicknesses. Metal–Insulator–Metal capacitors have been chosen as test structures while the Charge/Discharge Current Transient method has been used to monitor the current transients. The investigation reveals that in LF material the stored charge increases with the film thickness while in HF one it is not affected by the film thickness. The dependence of stored charge on electric field intensity was found to follow a Poole–Frenkel like law. Finally, both the relaxation time and the stored charge were found to increase with the electric field intensity.     

Determination of bulk discharge current in the dielectric film of MEMS capacitive switches

The present work presents a new method to calculate the discharge current in the bulk of dielectric films of MEMS capacitive switches. This method takes into account the real MEMS switch with non uniform trapped charge and air gap distributions. The assessment of switches with silicon nitride dielectric film shows that the discharge current transient seems to obey the stretched exponential law. The decay characteristics depend on the polarization field’s polarity, a fact that comes along with experimental results obtained from the thermally stimulated depolarization currents (TSDC) method used in MIM capacitors.     

Inline capacitive and DC-contact MEMS shunt switches

This paper presents inline capacitive MEMS shunt switches suitable for X/K-band and Ka/V-band applications. The inline switch allows for a low- or high-inductance connection to the ground plane without changing the mechanical characteristics of the MEMS bridge. Excellent isolation and loss are achieved with this design, and the performance is very similar to the standard capacitive MEMS shunt switch. Also, a new metal-to-metal contact MEMS shunt switch is presented. A novel pull-down electrode is used which applies the electrostatic force at the same location as the metal-to-metal contact area. A contact resistance of 0.15-0.35 Ω is repeatable, and results in an isolation of -40 dB at 0.1-3 GHz. The measured isolation is still better than -20 dB at 40 GHz. The application areas are in high-isolation/low-loss switches for telecommunication and radar systems     

Gamma radiation effects on RF MEMS capacitive switches

Dielectric-based RF MEMS capacitive switches were fabricated and characterized for their response to dielectric charging, thermal storage and cycling and to total dose gamma irradiations. The evolution of the switch electromechanical and RF characteristics (actuation and releasing voltages, insertion losses, isolation) were evaluated as a function of the applied stress (temperature or total ionizing dose). It is indicated that the thermal stress has a relatively minor impact on the switches (the switches remained functional with nearly the same electrical properties). Under our particular test conditions, C(V) and S-parameters measurements show that gamma radiation has low to moderate effects on the components behavior.     

Investigation methods and approaches for alleviating charge trapping phenomena in ohmic RF-MEMS switches submitted to cycling test

We propose and discuss a detailed reliability investigation of ohmic RF-MEMS switches, affected by high charge trapping phenomena, and we analyse how these test methods affect the study of charge trapping issues. We investigate the effect of three different parameters that have to be considered when cycling ohmic RF-MEMS switches. In particular the effect of the shape of the actuation pulse, the cycling frequency and the RF input power are analysed. Our experimental investigations show interesting trends and results that might help the analysis of ohmic RF-MEMS switches during cycling tests. These approaches, in fact, suggest how to better control and to reduce the charge trapping effect maximizing the lifetime of RF-MEMS switches.     

Measurement and analysis of substrate leakage current of RF mems capacitive switches

This paper focused on a new direction of study on leakage current called substrate charge injection. The substrate leakage current of capacitive RF micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) switches was measured, and the conduction mechanism was estimated. The study of the leakage current conduction mechanisms of the substrate dielectric film shows that leakage is mainly induced by hopping conduction at low electric fields, whereas both Schottky emission and hopping conduction may contribute to the leakage current at high fields. The quantitative relationship between the substrate leakage current and the dielectric layer leakage current was also determined for the first time. In the case of low drive voltage (0–30 V), the substrate leakage current significantly contributes to the total leakage current. Results show that the charging properties of the substrate should not be neglected at low drive voltage because such properties could significantly affect the functionality and reliability of RF MEMS switches.     

Insulator investigation on SiC for improved reliability

Significant improved high-temperature reliability of SiC metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) devices has been achieved with both thermally grown oxides and by using a stacked dielectric consisting of silicon oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO). Capacitors of p-type 6H-SiC, n-type 6H-SiC and n-type 4H-SiC were fabricated with a variety of insulators. The best performance was accomplished only with insulators incorporating silicon dioxide. A new thermal oxidation process of growing a dry oxide then following with a wet re-oxidation anneal produces an oxide with the dielectric strength of a dry oxide and the high-quality interface of a wet oxide. MIS field effect transistors (MISFETs) with an ONO gate insulator had surface channel mobilities similar to MISFETs with thermal gate oxides, and demonstrated a lifetime of 10 days at 335°C and 15 V bias. The lifetime of the ONO MISFET was a factor of 100 higher than for devices fabricated with deposited oxides, which had been the prior state of the art for high-temperature MISFETs on SiC     

高温恒定电流电迁移可靠性试验及结果分析

介绍了评价电迁移可靠性的高温恒定电流试验方法,以电阻值超过初始值10％为失效判据,对某工艺的几组样品进行可靠性评价。该试验方法简便、可靠,适用于亚微米和深亚微米超大规模集成电路的可靠性评价。     

Thermal and electrostatic reliability characterization in RF MEMS switches

The reliability of RF MEMS switches is closely linked to their operational and environmental conditions. This paper examines the reliability of five different capacitive switch designs by a combined use of modeling and experimental tools. Three-dimensional multiphysics finite element analysis was performed to estimate the actuation voltage and deflection vs. temperature variations of the micro-switches. The effect of temperature and temperature cycles on switch dilatation and pull-in voltage are studied, as well as the influence of different operational signals on switch reliability.