Reliability of RF-MEMS Series Switches under Low and Medium Power Cycling

Abstract--Single Pole Single Through (SPST) series micromachined switches have been characterized to check their reliability under low (3 dBm) and medium (23 dBm) power cycling. Negligible changes of the electrical performances have been recorded in low power regime, while failure or decrease of the elctrical response is obtained for the medium power test around 10^5 cycles. Continuous medium power injection does not result in any failure for the optimized switch configuration