Inkjet-Printed Flexible MEMS Switches for Phased-Array Antennas

Abstract EN

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 Kapton® 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.