Inkjet-printed flexible MEMS switches for phased-array antennas
Date
2018-03
Authors
Monne, Mahmuda Akter
Lan, Xing
Zhang, Chunbo
Chen, Maggie Yihong
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Hindawi
Abstract
This paper presents a fully inkjet-printed flexible MEMS switch for phased-array antennas. The physical structure of the printed MEMS switch consists of an anchor with a clamp-clamp beam, a sacrificial layer, and bottom transmission lines. 5-mil KaptonĀ® polyimide film is used as a flexible substrate material. Two different types of conductive ink PEDOT : PSS from Sigma Aldrich and silver nanoparticle ink from NovaCentrix are used for the fabrication of different printed layers. Layer-by-layer fabrication process and material evaluation are illustrated. Layer characterization is done with respect to critical thickness and resistance using 2D/3D material analysis. Fujifilm Dimatix Material Printer (DMP-2800) is used for fabrication, and KLA-Tencor (P-7) profiler is used for 2D and 3D analysis of each layer. The MEMS switch has a low actuation voltage of 1.2 V, current capacity of 0.2195 mA, a current on-off ratio of 2195 : 1, and an RF insertion loss of 5 dB up to 13.5 GHz. Printed MEMS switch technology is a promising candidate for flexible and reconfigurable phased-array antennas and other radio frequency (RF) and microwave frequency applications.
Description
Keywords
phased-array antennas, MEMS switches, inkjet printing, Ingram School of Engineering
Citation
Monne, M. A., Lan, X., Zhang, C., & Chen, M. Y. (2018). Inkjet-printed flexible MEMS switches for phased-array antennas. International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, 2018, pp. 1-10.
Rights
Rights Holder
Ā© 2018 Mahmuda Akter Monne et al.
Rights License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.