Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication PrinciplesKa-band distributed MEMS phase shifters on silicon using AlSi suspended membrane

Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication Principles

"Both the authors and the Editor-in-Chief of Volume 13, number 3 of the IEEE/ASME JMEMS (June 2004, pp. 542-549) of the paper numbered JMEMS 1041 have agreed that this paper, "Ka-Band Distributed MEMS Phase Shifters on Silicon Using AlSi Suspended Membrane," should not have been published. The paper would have been withdrawn had this fact been discovered before the IEEE/ASME JMEMS print date for June 2004. The authors have indicated that they will work to provide a new version their paper that will be considered for publication if it is submitted in the future. For help in coming to this decision, I would like to thank those concerned individuals, including the authors, JMEMS editors, and highly respected researchers in the MEMS and microwave communities who contributed their time and consideration to help us assure the integrity of our journal."

Richard S. Muller, Editor-in-Chief, IEEE/ASME JMEMS

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of distributed MEMS phase shifters for Ka-band communication systems. The phase shift can be obtained by changing MEMS bridge capacitors located periodically over the transmission line. Simulation results of phase shifters with various structural parameters are analyzed to develop the optimized designs. The phase shifters are fabricated on the high-resistivity silicon substrate, using suspended AlSi bridge membrane. The measured results demonstrate a phase shift of 286° at 36 GHz with the actuation voltage of 25 V, and a return loss better than 10 dB over 0-40 GHz band. In addition, lifetimes of 3×10/sup 6/ cycles have been achieved for the fabricated phase shifter with all MEMS bridges held to be valid. It shows that AlSi alloy has a nice compromise between strength and resilience.