Design methodology of a high power RF MEMS switch for wireless applications

In modern telecommunication and space electronic applications, RF MEMS switch components offer great potential benefits such as high isolation, low insertion loss, low power consumption, and excellent linearity characteristics. However, the high power MEMS RF switch capability remains the key problem for high power amplifiers within the system. This paper presents the development of a systematic and generic design methodology for high power RF MEMS switch. The methodology is followed by a chip layout design. In this research, the switch is designed to handle a minimum 1W incident RF signal power from 3 to 12 GHz with acceptable insertion and return losses of better than −0.1 dB and −17 dB respectively.