Low voltage actuated microelectromechanical switch for RF application

A push-pull operation is proposed for low voltage actuation of a microelectromechanical (MEM) switch for RF application. The push-pull operation realized by torsion springs and contact electrode height amplification by leverage, lowers the actuation voltage of the MEM switch by reducing the gap between actuation electrodes. The proposed MEM switch is fabricated by gold surface micromachining. Switching operation up to 4 GHz is demonstrated. The actuation voltage is as low as 5 V. The insertion loss of ∼ 1 dB and the isolation as high as ∼ 40 dB at 1 GHz are achieved by the push-pull operation.