IEEE-International Conference On Advances In Engineering, Science And Management (ICAESM -2012) March 30, 31, 2012 130

RF MEMS Compact T-Type Switch Design for Switch Matrix

Applications in Space Telecommunication

' 2 2
Soumendu Sinha , Deepak Bansa1 and K.J. Rangra ,
' 2
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute,
Pilani
Pilani-333031,India
E-mail: soumendu.sinha@gmail.com

and increase the payload of satellites. Semiconductor switches

Abstract- This paper presents a novel approach
monolithically implement a planar multiport radio-frequency
(RF) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) T-type switch. T­
type switches are used as building blocks of redundancy switch
matrices used in space telecommunication. The T-type switch
performs signal routing in three operational states. Two of them
are boundary states while the other one is a crossover state. The
proposed design uses a series metal contact clamped-clamped
beam SPST switches, four port psi junctions and a RF crossover.
The simulated results for the entire T-type switch demonstrate an
insertion loss of -0.48dB and isolation better than -22.12dB for all
states for frequencies up to 25GHz. The use of eight switches
instead of twelve makes T-type switch compact. This improves the
reliability and compactness of the redundancy switch matrix. The
switch gives excellent RF performance near X-band and Ku-band
which is the most widely used frequency range for satellite
communication.
Index Terms- Multiport switches, radio-frequency (RF)
electromechanical systems (MEMS) switches, redundancy systems,
Coplanar Waveguide (CPW).
I. INTRODUCTION
Mbuilding blocks for redundancy switch matrices used in
icrowave switching networks are commonly used as the
satellite communication. A very high reliability is
desired out of the redundant network. It provides the required
connection to the spare components included in the system so
that the full functionality of the system is maintained in case of
part failures. In case of satellite payloads, spare RF amplifiers
are provided in order to cover up malfunctioning of any
to are compact but their isolation is poor.
MEMS (microelectromechanical) switches use mechanical
movement to achieve closed or open switch configurations in
the RF transmission lines. They are compatible with the IC
fabrication technology. RF switches, the most advanced of RF
MEMS, can be designed to operate at RF to millimeter wave
frequencies (0.1 to 100 GHz). The force required for
mechanical movement of beam to close or open the path ofRF
transmission line can be obtained using thermal, piezoelectric,
magnetostatic or electrostatic actuation mechanisms.
Electrostatic actuation is most commonly used technology
because of its robustness and usability in switch matrices of
satellite payloads. MEMS switches are low weight compact
devices with superiorRF performance which consume low DC
power compared to the mechanical switches and state of the art
semiconductor switches.
micro­
Over the past decade, the majority of published work on
RF MEMS switches has been on the development of SPST
switches [2]-[3]. More recently, few papers have been
published on RF MEMS C-type, R-type and T-type switches
[4]-[6]. The compact design of T-type switch proposed uses
eight switches instead of twelve. This improves the reliability
and compactness of the redundancy switch matrix.
The T-type switch consists of four ports, six signal paths
with three operational states as shown in Fig. 1. Each state
consists of two conducting paths which connect two pairs of
ports simultaneously.
b'"[An;1 STATEn STATEm
PORT 3

amplifier in the system. Because of the criticality in

application, robustness of the switching network becomes an
important parameter of design.
Currently the most widely used switching networks in
'''''�'"'"'
PORT.

satellite payloads are based on semiconductor and mechanical Fig. I: T-type switch states
technologies. Mechanical switches include coaxial switches
The use of multiport C-type and R-type switches [4] rather
[1], semiconductor switches include PIN diode and field-effect
than SPNT switches as the basic building blocks for
transistor (FET) switches. Mechanical switches are very bulky
redundancy switch matrices considerably simplifies the
integration problem of large size redundancy switch matrices

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 IEEE-International Conference On Advances In Engineering, Science And Management (ICAESM -2012) March 30, 31, 2012 131

[5]. Yet the T-type switch provides the highest degree of closed. This realization is sufficient to have the complete
flexibility among the redundancy network designs. This is the functionality of a T-type switch. But it has the drawback of
major advantage of T-type switch. Other designs need very asymmetry in switching operation which severely affects the
complex switch matrices compared to the switch matrix used bandwidth of operation [7].
for T-type switches. Moreover, T-type switch provides good
Port 4
isolation for a wider bandwidth of operation. A
As stated above, the application of T-type switch in -

redundancy switch matrix networks is more flexible and

versatile. It provides more and unique routing combinations in II
case of path failures in comparison to C-type or R-type
switches. Fig. 2 shows an example of redundant ring that .. A.
Port 2
Port 1 .",..
consists of T-switches and amplifiers [6]. This redundant �
system allows rerouting of any input to a spare amplifier (S1)
and then to the corresponding output, in case of any amplifier �� II
failure. The set of four T-type switches to the left of amplifiers
ll. State!
A.
can change their state according to the requirements and -
D �tatell
correspondingly the four T-type switches on the right side Port 3
<> Statem
change their states to redirect the coming signals to the output.
This makes T-type switch versatile when used in switch Fig. 3: T-Type switch operational states with six SPSTs
matrices for space applications where robustness of the system
is very critical. Therefore, we need to develop a schematic such that any
ML ML RF signal is able to see symmetrical open paths at the four port
cross junctions. This can be achieved by using two individual
OUT 1 SPST switches in each path as has been reported previously
[6]. This means that a total of 12 SPST switches will be used
for the six signal paths operating according to the state
OUT2
configuration defined in the system. This is shown in Fig. 4
[7].
OUT3
Port 4

OUT4

POl't 1 Port 2
Fig. 2: Example of T-Type Switch application

II. T-TYPE SWITCH

fl State 1

D State n
The T-type switch operates in three states as shown in Fig. l. Purt3
In state I, ports 1, 3 and ports 2, 4 get connected. In state II, <> State ill

ports 1, 4 and ports 2, 3 are connected while in state III ports

Fig. 4: T-Type switch operational states with twelve SPSTs
1, 2 and ports 3, 4 remain connected. This is summarized in
table I. This makes the complete design a very complex
TABLET microwave system. Use of excessive SPST switches can
T-TYPE STATES reduce the reliability of the system in terms of probability of
States 1st Port connection 2nd Port connection failure of any individual SPST switch. Even if one switch fails,
State I Port 1,Port 3 Port 2,Port 4 the complete functionality of the entire switch matrix fails.
State U Port 1,Port 4 Port 2,Port 3 Hence, it is always better to minimize the number of switches.
State m Port 1,Port 2 Port 3,Port 4
Also the compactness of switch increases. Smaller dimension
equals smaller wavelength. At higher frequencies the
Fig. 3 shows the schematic of a switch configuration that is wavelength and the dimensions of the design become
capable of realizing the operation of the three states of the T­ comparable. Therefore, a smaller structure helps avoid the use
type switch. As shown in the figure, it consists of six single of impedance matching network which can become
ended SPSTs placed exclusively in each path connecting two troublesome if the matrix size is very large as in the case of
ports. The switches close according to state defmition. In state satellite payloads. Thus smaller switches can be used for
I, the SPST switch between port 1 and 3 gets closed and higher frequencies, increasing the bandwidth of operation.
simultaneously the switch placed between port 2 and 4 gets

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 IEEE-International Conference On Advances In Engineering, Science And Management (ICAESM -2012) March 30, 31, 2012 132

We propose a new schematic of realizing the operation of

T-type switch as shown in Fig. 5. It consists of four four-port
psi junctions, eight single ended SPSTs and one RF crossover.
The SPST switches used in the side arms are symmetrically
placed such that all the switch openings face a symmetrical
open stub length in their off states. The length of each side is
optimized to be minimal in order to minimize the open stub
length which act as capacitors and thus provide capacitive ./

loading at the four port psi junction. The major advantage of

this design is the compactness of T-type switch. The signal
path lengths are significantly reduced due to the inclusion of
only one SPST switch in the boundary arms as against the
conventional design of T-switch [6] which contains two SPST
switches in each signal path. Also the exclusion of 90 degree
bend helps in improving the results by avoiding the sharp
edges and parasitics added at the turns.
PORT 4
PORT 1 E-.....,&--+.....,&-� PORT 2
Fig. 6: Four port psi junction
However we have included air bridges in the design. The
CPW consists of three non-connected metallizations. Hence,
two fundamental modes are supported, the coplanar mode (odd
mode) and the parasitic slot-line mode (even mode).
Discontinuities of unsymmetrical shape cause a coupling
between these two modes. Thus, air bridges have to be used to
suppress the undesired slot-line mode. Due to its
unsymmetrical structure, a simple psi junction gives rise to
considerable excitation of the undesired slot-line mode.
Therefore a connection between the four ground metallizations
is required [8] as shown in Fig. 7.

o State T
PORT 3
o SInk II

A S tate m

Fig. 5: I-type switch schematic design

An unconventional four port psi junction has been

introduced in the design in order to incorporate eight SPST
switches symmetrically as shown in Fig. 6. To our knowledge
this is first time such a design is proposed. The psi shaped four
port junction is designed to accommodate the uniformity in Fig. 7: Air bridges

open stub lengths when the switches are open. This is a critical
section in the design of T-type switch. It must be designed to
exhibit good matching from all ports in all states. Any four
port psi junction faces two loading modes i.e. one crossover
state and two boundary states. The boundary loading modes
are equivalent to each other. In each state, the junction with
switches around can be treated as a two port network while the
other two ports have capacitive loadings only. Therefore the
psi junction needs to be matched considering the effect of two
ports having capacitive loading. Conventionally, as mentioned
before, we can deviate from the width to spacing parameters
where we consider thinner central conductor in comparison to
the spacing between ground and the central conductor for a
CPW. This will increase the overall inductance and thus Fig. 8: RF crossover junction
compensate the capacitive effect of open paths. We avoid
Another important design element is the RF crossover
using out of plane discontinuities in this design because of
required at the center of the T-type switch. It must be designed
their contribution to capacitive loading and their interference
to minimize the coupling of the two signals travelling in signal
with the impedance matching of transmission line.
paths connecting ports 1, 2 and ports 3, 4 in state III and at the
same time achieve maximum impedance matching to minimize
losses. The width of transmission line is made thinner in
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 IEEE-International Conference On Advances In Engineering, Science And Management (ICAESM -2012) March 30, 31, 2012
comparison to the normal CPW configuration and silicon
dioxide is used to isolate the two RF signals. This is shown in
Fig. 8.
The T-type switch topology consists of eight SPST unit
switches as shown in Fig. 9. The placement of the switches at
specific locations is important for obtaining a good RF
performance of the switch network. In any state, the two ports
see four open paths. If we talk of state III, S21 sees four
opened paths and therefore the capacitive loading caused by it
can become very significant. When the ohmic switch is up, the
open path is loaded with a capacitor, Therefore, from the
junction, the input impedance is less than son i.e. more
capacitive. Our aim is to maintain the characteristic impedance
of SOn. Hence we place the switches close to the four port
junctions. This necessitates the minimization of the path length
from open switches to the four port psi junction. The boundary
path lengths have to be minimized. Correspondingly, the
crossover path lengths have to be changed to keep SPST
switches equidistant from psi junction.
Fig. 9: T-Type complete switch design
III. SWITCH DESIGN
Unlike the reported cantilever based switch designs [9] the
proposed design is a fixed-fixed inline beam metal to metal
contact type switch as shown in Fig. 10 [10]. The cantilever
beams bend upwards after fabrication and create difficulty in
actuation. To overcome this problem, we have chosen a novel
fixed-fixed beam design. The transmission lines are made of
gold on a high resistivity silicon wafer. The entire switch
design is based on finite ground co-planar waveguide (FG­
CPW). The ground plane width is double the transmission line
width.
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133
Fig. 10: Individual SPST switch design
The actuation pad is placed just below the gold beam and
interconnect wires are taken beneath the transmission lines
isolated by a thin layer of silicon dioxide. In the normal state,
the beam which is a combination of gold and silicon nitride
remains horizontal. This leaves the transmission line in an
open state as shown in Fig. II(a). In the electrostatically
actuated state, the beam bends down and the symmetric
positioning of beam ensures contact of the beam at the gold
bumps. This completes the transmission line and the RF signal
passes through as shown in Fig. II(b).
TRANSMISSIO LINE TRANSMISSION LINE
SILICON NITRIDE SILICON NITRIDE
� GOLD
(B)
11 1 1 _ I�
ACTUATION PAD
Fig. I I: Switch working principle (cross sectional view).
(a)Beam is unactuated and the transmission line (TL) is open
(b)Beam is electrostatically actuated and TL is closed
IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The simulation results of a single SPST switch is shown in
the Fig. 12, 13 and 14. The performance of single switch is
excellent in terms of insertion loss, return loss and isolation.
Insertion loss is the ratio of the transmitted power to the
difference between the incident and reflected power. If the
reflected power is low then S21 is the insertion loss. The
reflected power under these conditions is the return loss and is
equal to SII. The forward transmission under off-state
conditions is termed the isolation of the switch denoted by S2I
[12]. The results show that within the operating bandwidth of
0-2S GHz, the insertion loss is less than -0.037dB. The return
loss is better than -31.20dB and the isolation is better than -
33.S3dB. Table II gives a comparison between single SPST
switch and the T-type switch performance for the frequency
range 0-2SGHz.
 IEEE-International Conference On Advances In Engineering, Science And Management (ICAESM -2012) March 30, 31, 2012 134

111)_ The T-type switch design can achieve excellent RF

TABLE II performance near the X-band and Ku-band. Table III and IV
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF SPST SWITCH AND T-TYPE SWITCH
show the worst performance of T-switch till lO GHz and 25
Parameters SPST Switch T-type Switch
GHz respectively_ As shown in the table, in the boundary state,
Insertion loss -O.037dB -O.4SdB
Return loss -31.20dB -12.05dB within the operating bandwidth of 0-25GHz, the insertion loss
Isolation -33.53dB -22.12dB is less than -0.48dB, return loss of better than -12.05dB and
isolation better than -37.45dR In the crossover state, the
O.00 -r------, insertion loss is better than -0.48dB, return loss better than -
13.44dB and isolation better than -22.18dR Fig_ 15, 16 and 17
show the response of boundary state while Fig_ 18, 19 and 20
co -0.02 show the response of crossover state respectively_
�
<Jj

� TABLE III
§ -0.04 PERFORMANCE IN BOUNDARY STATE
t
Q)
<Jj
Parameters/Frequency 100Hz 250Hz
E Insertion loss -O.20dB -O.4SdB
Return loss -16.72dB -12.05dB
-0.06
Isolation -41.07dB -37.45dB

o 5 10 15 20 25 30

Frequency (GHz)
TABLE IV
PERFORMANCE IN CROSSOVER STATE
Fig. 12: Insertion loss
Parameters/Frequency 100Hz 250Hz
Insertion loss -O.17dB -O.4SdB
Return loss -31.24dB -13.44dB
Isolation -25.S5dB -22.ISdB

-30

co
�
<Jj -40
0.0
�
E
:::> co
&1 -50 �
<Jj -0.2
�
c
-60 o
t
Q)
o 5 10 15 20 25 30 .s -0.4
Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 13: Return loss

o 5 10 15 20 25 30

Frequency (GHz)

-30 Fig. 15: Insertion loss

-10 -r------,
co -40
�
c
o
� -15
'0 co
.!!!. -50
�
<Jj

�
E -20
-60 :::>

Q)
c::
o 5 10 15 20 25 30

Frequency (GHz) -25

Fig. 14: Isolation

o 5 10 15 20 25 30

Frequency (GHz)
The operation of T-type switch can be divided into two parts
Le_ boundary state (state I and II) and crossover state (state Fig. 16: Return loss

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 IEEE-International Conference On Advances In Engineering, Science And Management (ICAESM -2012) March 30, 31, 2012 135

-35

-24

-42

1!l 1!l
S s
c: c: -32
0 0
� -49 �
"0 "0
IE IE

-40
-56

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 o 5 10 15 20 25 30

Frequency (GHz) Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 20: Isolation

Fig. 17: Isolation

V. CONCLUSION
0.6
A novel monolithically integrated RF MEMS Compact T­
type switch design is presented. Novel fixed-fixed metal
contact switch is used. The device was designed to operate for
0.0
1!l a wideband frequency range 0-25GHz with excellent RF
s
'"
'"
o
performance near X-band and Ku-band. The compact T-type
...J
g -0.6
switch uses lesser number of SPST switches. This
t considerably reduces the size of redundancy switch matrices
3l
E and increases reliability. The proposed T-type switch promises
-1.2 to be useful in the realization of highly compact redundancy
switch matrices for satellite communication.
o 5 10 15 20 25 30

Frequency (GHz) REFERENCES

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-10
[4] Daneshmand, M.; Mansour, RR, "C-type and R-type RF MEMS
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'"
0
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-30
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a::
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-40
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