TY - GEN
T1 - A long-term reliability analysis of a creep-immune RF-MEMS tunable capacitor
AU - Ogawa, Etsuji
AU - Masunishi, Kei
AU - Ikehashi, Tamio
AU - Saito, Tomohiro
AU - Yamazaki, Hiroaki
AU - Tomizawa, Yasushi
AU - Sugizaki, Yoshiaki
PY - 2011/9/1
Y1 - 2011/9/1
N2 - Actuators used in RF-MEMS tunable capacitors have an issue of creep-induced deformation. The creep is caused by a ductile-metal beam which is indispensable to attain the low loss. To avoid this issue, we previously reported an actuator structure that uses a brittle material, silicon nitride (SiN), at the stress-concentrated spring portions [1]. The present paper aims to clarify a long-term creep immunity of the actuator. We first determined parameters of Norton's law by measurements and then carried out Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations. As a result, we found that the shift of the up-state capacitance is 2.2% after keeping the actuator in down-state position for 3 years at 85°C.
AB - Actuators used in RF-MEMS tunable capacitors have an issue of creep-induced deformation. The creep is caused by a ductile-metal beam which is indispensable to attain the low loss. To avoid this issue, we previously reported an actuator structure that uses a brittle material, silicon nitride (SiN), at the stress-concentrated spring portions [1]. The present paper aims to clarify a long-term creep immunity of the actuator. We first determined parameters of Norton's law by measurements and then carried out Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations. As a result, we found that the shift of the up-state capacitance is 2.2% after keeping the actuator in down-state position for 3 years at 85°C.
KW - Norton's law
KW - RF-MEMS
KW - brittle material
KW - creep
KW - electrostatic actuator
KW - tunable capacitor
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U2 - 10.1109/TRANSDUCERS.2011.5969693
DO - 10.1109/TRANSDUCERS.2011.5969693
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:80052128447
SN - 9781457701573
T3 - 2011 16th International Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, TRANSDUCERS'11
SP - 2466
EP - 2469
BT - 2011 16th International Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, TRANSDUCERS'11
T2 - 2011 16th International Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, TRANSDUCERS'11
Y2 - 5 June 2011 through 9 June 2011
ER -