The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 14, 2006
Filed:
Sep. 17, 2002
Milton Feng, Champaign, IL (US);
Richard Chan, Champaign, IL (US);
Milton Feng, Champaign, IL (US);
Richard Chan, Champaign, IL (US);
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Urbana, IL (US);
Abstract
A high life cycle MEMS device is provided by the invention. The inventors have recognized that the deflection beam or deflection beams of an MEMS shunt switch are a failure point in need of improvement. In an aspect of the invention, at least a portion of the signals in the grounded state of an MEMS shunt switch are bypassed to ground on a path that avoids the deflection beam(s) supporting the movable pad. In a preferred embodiment, ground posts are disposed to contact the movable pad in an actuated position and establish a signal path from a signal line to ground. The inventors have also recognized that a shape of deflection beams near their anchor point contributes to failures. In another preferred aspect of the invention, an anchoring portion of the deflection beam or deflection beams is generally coplanar with the remaining portion of the deflection beam(s). An additional post beneath the anchoring portion of the deflection beam(s) permits deflection beam(s) lacking any turns that form a weak structural point.