A new measurement set-up to investigate the charge trapping phenomena in RF MEMS packaged switches

In this work we present a new measurement set up able to predict the lifetime of packaged ohmic RF MEMS submitted to long actuation periods. Experimental results were carried out for a relatively long time period in order to verify the degradation law relates to charge trapping and stiction on cantilever and clamped-clamped switches. Thanks to the use of a microcontroller we have been able to reach a complete control of the timing during the stress phase. Furthermore, the characterization phase has been remarkably reduced in order to minimally influence the charge trapping during the characterization of stressed device. Results are carried out on two different MEMS designs (clamped-clamped and cantilever configurations). © 2013 IEEE.