Texas Instruments Corporation

Yu-Pei Chen

Darius Lammont Crenshaw

Byron Lovell Williams

Jose L Melendez

Tsen-Hwang Lin

Wallace W Martin

A microelectromechanical switch includes a substrate, an insulator layer disposed outwardly from the substrate, and an electrode disposed outwardly from the insulator layer. The switch also includes a dielectric layer disposed outwardly from the insulator layer and the electrode, the dielectric layer having a dielectric constant of greater than or equal to twenty. The switch also includes a membrane layer disposed outwardly from the dielectric layer, the membrane layer overlying a support layer, the support layer operable to space the membrane layer outwardly from the dielectric layer.

Microelectromechanical switch

The present invention provides an apparatus and method of selecting a unique combination of materials and dimensions for fabrication of a micro-electromechanical switch for improved RF switch performance. An electrode material is selected which exhibits a resistivity resulting in improved insertion loss for a predetermined switching speed, a dielectric material is selected which exhibits a permittivity resulting in improved isolation, and an airgap thickness is selected resulting in a pull-down voltage approximately equal to a supply voltage of the micro-electromechanical switch in which the isolation and predetermined switching speed are also functions of the airgap thickness.

Selection of materials and dimensions for a micro-electromechanical switch for use in the RF regime

A Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) switch ( ) having a bottom electrode ( ) formed over a substrate ( ) and a thin protective cap layer ( ) disposed over the bottom electrode ( ). A dielectric material ( ) is disposed over the protective cap layer ( ) and a pull-down electrode ( ) is formed over the spacer ( ) and the dielectric material ( ). The protective cap layer ( ) prevents the oxidation of the bottom electrode ( ). The thin protective cap layer ( ) comprises a metal having an associated oxide with a high dielectric constant. A portion ( ) of the thin protective cap layer ( ) may oxidize during the formation of the dielectric material ( ), increasing the capacitance of the dielectric stack ( ).

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Plano, TX, United States of America

Yu-Pei Chen