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.     

A Low Loss X-Band Quasi-Elliptic Ferroelectric Tunable Filter

A compact high quality factor four-pole X-band tunable quasi-elliptic bandpass filter is presented in this letter. The filter is enabled by high-Q ferroelectric barium strontium titanate capacitors and open-loop resonators. The central frequency of 8.35 GHz and the frequency tuning range of 500 MHz (6%) are achieved with a dc bias voltage of 30 V. The selective filter has a fractional 1 dB bandwidth ranging from 5.5% up to 7.3%. The measured insertion loss and return loss are 5.7-3.5 dB and 10.2-7.9 dB, respectively, with a dc bias range of 0 to 30 V. To the best of our knowledge, this is the best analog tunable performance and selectivity in X-band.     

A Novel Single-Feed Circular Microstrip Antenna With Reconfigurable Polarization Capability

A single-feed circular microstrip antenna with reconfigurable polarization capability is proposed. This antenna has a simple structure, which consists of a radiating circular patch, five switches (PIN diode), three matching stubs, and a 50 microstrip feed line. It can be switched between 4 different states: two states (low-frequency and high-frequency) for linear polarization (LP), one state for left hand circular polarization (LHCP) and one for right hand circular polarization (RHCP) by controlling the bias voltage of two PIN diodes. At the same time, three switchable matching stubs are used for matching every polarization state. Simulation results and experimental results show that the proposed antenna demonstrates a low cross polarization level, good impedance bandwidth, and a very good axial ratio in the circularly polarized states.     

A new excitation technique for wide-band short backfire antennas

A new excitation technique is developed to improve the impedance bandwidth and to lower the manufacturing cost of a short backfire antenna (SBA). The new excitation structure consists of a planar monopole and a microstrip feed line, both of which are printed on the same dielectric substrate. By splitting the printed monopole with a slot, a wide-band performance can be achieved. The new split-monopole-excited SBA achieves an impedance bandwidth of about 15% [voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR <2)] while maintaining good radiation performance. As an example, an SBA configuration with the new excitation topology was designed and measured at the 5 GHz UNII band, and good agreement was observed between the simulation and experiment. The effects of the geometric parameters of the excitation structure on the impedance performance are investigated and the operating mechanism of the split-monopole-excited SBA is discussed. Being a low-cost, high-gain, and wide-band directional antenna, the new SBA can find applications in various wireless systems, such as LMDS, WLAN, and the emerging WiMAX networks.     

Moisture Lifetime Testing of RF MEMS Switches Packaged in Liquid Crystal Polymer

This paper presents for the first time the effects of moisture on radio frequency microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches packaged entirely inside a flexible, organic polymer [namely, liquid crystal polymer (LCP)]. Moisture tests were administered at 100degC and 100% relative humidity to evaluate long-term exposures and at 85degC and 85% relative humidity to evaluate short-term exposures. The effect of the moisture was quantified by before and after S-parameter measurements, by a weight gain analysis, and by visual inspection. Both global and localized bonding techniques were investigated to compare the best-case scenario to a more practical case. The effects of an 18 mum thick copper layer on both sides of the package were studied as well as the size of the bonding contact area. It was found that many packages that passed the Military Standard 883 G, Method 1014.12 for seal quality were unable to provide adequate protection from moisture. This indicates that the requirements for MEMS devices is more rigorous than the Military Standard. This standard is commonly quoted in literature as a metric for qualifying polymer packaging techniques. This paper demonstrates the necessity for proper testing of MEMS devices in a moist environment. It has been determined that for the bonding methods presented in this paper, an LCP packaged MEMS switch could potentially survive 7-10 h in jungle conditions, 5-7 weeks in ambient conditions, or 1.4-1.8 years in desert conditions.     

A High-Q Millimeter-Wave Air-Lifted Cavity Resonator on Lossy Substrates

In this letter, a 3D high-quality-factor millimeter- wave cavity resonator is integrated on the lossy soda-lime glass substrate utilizing surface micromachining technologies. With a height of 300 mum, the air-lifted cavity features a measured Q of at least 219 at 30 GHz, demonstrating an improvement by almost an order of magnitude with respect to respective planar resonators on the same substrate. The 3D cavity is monolithically integrated on the top of the substrate, with its side walls consisting of two rows of metalized pillars, while a weak coupling excitation scheme is used to extract the quality factor. This high performance cavity can be easily integrated with other monolithic integrated circuits and planar mm-wave components in multilayer modules.     

Decolorization kinetics of Procion H-exl dyes from textile dyeing using Fenton-like reactions

The decolorization kinetics of three commercially used Procion H-exl dyes was studied using a Fenton-like reagent. The effect of the major system parameters (pH, concentration of H(2)O(2) and Fe(3+) and initial dye concentration) on the kinetics was determined. For comparison, the effect of the use of UV irradiated Fenton-like reagent and of Fenton reagent on the kinetics was also examined. In addition, mineralization rates and the biodegradability improvement as well as the effect of the addition of Cl(-), CO(3)(2-) or HCO(3)(-) on the decolorization rates was studied. The reactions were carried out in a 300 ml stirred cylindrical reactor with the capability of UV irradiation. The dye half-life time goes through a minimum with respect to the solution pH between 3 and 4. It also exhibits a broad minimum with respect to Fe(3+) and H(2)O(2) at molar ratios of H(2)O(2)/Fe(3+) from about 100 to 10. The addition of CO(3)(2-) and HCO(3)(-) substantially reduces the decolorization rates, while this effect is significantly less pronounced with Cl(-). At an optimum range of parameters, the mineralization rate (TOC reduction) is very slow for the Fenton-like process (TOC decrease from an initial 49.5 to 41.1 mg/l after 30 min and to only 35.2 mg/l after 600 min), but it increases significantly for the photo-Fenton-like process (to TOC values of 39.7 and 11.4 mg/l, respectively). The biodegradability, as expressed by the BOD/COD ratio, increases significantly from an initial value of 0.11-0.55 for the Fenton-like and to 0.72 for the photo-Fenton-like processes.     

Coupling between microstrip lines with finite width ground plane embedded in thin-film circuits

Three-dimensional (3-D) interconnects built upon multiple layers of polyimide are required for constructing 3-D circuits on CMOS (low resistivity) Si wafers, GaAs, and ceramic substrates. Thin-film microstrip lines (TFMS) with finite-width ground planes embedded in the polyimide are often used. However, the closely spaced TFMS fines are susceptible to high levels of coupling, which degrades the circuit performance. In this paper, finite-difference time domain (FDTD) analysis and experimental measurements are used to demonstrate that the ground planes must be connected by via holes to reduce coupling in both the forward and backward directions. Furthermore, it is shown that coupled microstrip lines establish a slotline type mode between the two ground planes and a dielectric waveguide type mode, and that the connected via holes recommended here eliminate these two modes.     

A high-Q reconfigurable planar EBG cavity resonator

A reconfigurable planar electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) cavity resonator has been designed, fabricated, and tested. The resonator, based on a microstrip-coupled cavity constructed with periodic metallic post side walls, resonates at 10.60 GHz or 8.63 GHz, depending on the state of two rows of switchable post elements. Fabricated on 0.031 inch 5880 Duroid, the resonator exhibits Qs of 348 and 274 for the 10.60 GHz and 8.63 GHz resonances, respectively. In addition to the reasonably high Qs achievable with this design, the circuit utilizes standard printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication techniques and is 100% compatible with commercial PCB processes, enabling low-cost mass production     

Novel Reliable RF Capacitive MEMS Switches With Photodefinable Metal–Oxide Dielectrics

In this paper, the design, fabrication, and measurement of reliable low-cost capacitive radio-frequency microelectromechanical systems switches with a novel fabrication approach using direct photodefinable high-k metal oxides are presented. In this approach, a radiation-sensitive metal-organic precursor is deposited via spin coating and converted to a high-k metal oxide via ultraviolet exposure. Measurements of the bridge-type switches have been done up to 40 GHz. These switches are reliable (> 340 million cycles) and exhibited low insertion loss (about 0.3 dB at 20 GHz) and better isolation (about 24 dB at 20 GHz) at frequencies below the resonant frequency as compared to switches that are fabricated using a simple silicon nitride dielectric.