CN219286238U - RF MEMS switch and electronic equipment - Google Patents
RF MEMS switch and electronic equipment Download PDFInfo
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- CN219286238U CN219286238U CN202223327152.1U CN202223327152U CN219286238U CN 219286238 U CN219286238 U CN 219286238U CN 202223327152 U CN202223327152 U CN 202223327152U CN 219286238 U CN219286238 U CN 219286238U
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Abstract
The application relates to the field of radio frequency switches and discloses an RF MEMS switch and electronic equipment, wherein the RF MEMS switch comprises a cantilever beam; the first contact is arranged at the free end of the cantilever beam; a second contact disposed opposite the first contact; the first contact and the second contact are in super-sliding contact in structure when in contact; and the driving electrode is used for driving the free end of the cantilever beam to displace so as to enable the first contact to be contacted with or separated from the second contact. At least one of the first contact and the second contact is a contact with a layered structure, the first contact is in super-sliding contact with the second contact, friction between the first contact and the second contact is almost close to zero, abrasion is zero, the service lives of the first contact and the second contact are prolonged, and the service life of the RF MEMS switch is prolonged.
Description
Technical Field
The present application relates to the field of radio frequency switches, and in particular, to an RF MEMS switch and an electronic device.
Background
The RF MEMS (Radio Frequency Micro-Electro-Mechanical System, radio frequency micro-electromechanical system) switch has the characteristics of high linearity, low insertion loss, high isolation, low energy consumption, small volume and the like, and can be applied to systems of wireless communication, phased array radar, instruments, medical equipment and the like.
At present, the RF MEMS switch is generally an electrostatic driven contact RF MEMS switch, the structural schematic diagram of which is shown in fig. 1, wherein an input end, an upper contact 2', a lower contact 3' and a cantilever beam 1 are all conductors, and the upper contact 2 'and the lower contact 3' form an output end. An upper polar plate 4 'is attached to the cantilever beam 1, a lower polar plate 5' is arranged on a substrate 7, the cantilever beam 1 is elastically deformed under the driving of electrostatic force by applying voltage between the upper polar plate 4 'and the lower polar plate 5', the upper contacts 2 'and the lower contacts 3' distributed at the tail ends of the cantilever beam 1 and the substrate 7 are caused to contact each other, and a switch is closed to form a signal path; when the applied voltage is removed, the deformation of the cantilever beam 1 is recovered, the upper contact 2 'and the lower contact 3' are separated, and the signal is disconnected. In use, the electrostatically actuated contact RF MEMS switch contacts the upper contact 2' and the lower contact 3', and current flows through the cantilever beam 1 to the upper contact 2' and then through the interface of the upper contact 2' and the lower contact 3' to the lower contact 3' and out of the lower contact 3 '. Limiting to the current processing technology and material stiffness limitations, the upper contact 2 'and the lower contact 3' may slip when in contact, thereby causing abrasion phenomena, which may result in a lower lifetime of the contacts and thus seriously affect the lifetime of the electrostatically driven contact RF MEMS switch.
Therefore, how to solve the above technical problems should be of great interest to those skilled in the art.
Disclosure of Invention
An object of the present application is to provide an RF MEMS switch and an electronic device to improve the reliability and lifetime of the RF MEMS switch.
To solve the above technical problem, the present application provides an RF MEMS switch, including:
a cantilever beam;
the first contact is arranged at the free end of the cantilever beam;
a second contact disposed opposite the first contact;
the first contact and the second contact are in super-sliding contact in structure when in contact;
and the driving electrode is used for driving the free end of the cantilever beam to generate displacement so as to enable the first contact to be contacted with or separated from the second contact.
Optionally, in the RF MEMS switch, when at least one of the first contact and the second contact is a contact with a layered structure, the RF MEMS switch further includes:
and a conductive wrapping layer surrounding the contact side surface of the internal laminated structure.
Optionally, in the RF MEMS switch, further includes:
a protrusion connected to the first contact and disposed opposite the second contact, and/or connected to the second contact and disposed opposite the first contact; the surfaces of the protrusions, which are opposite to the first contact and the second contact, are atomically smooth surfaces.
Optionally, in the RF MEMS switch, a surface of the protrusion opposite to the first contact and the second contact is an arc-shaped surface.
Optionally, in the RF MEMS switch, a surface of the protrusion opposite to the first contact and the second contact is a plane.
Optionally, in the RF MEMS switch, a height of the conductive wrapping layer is greater than a first height and less than or equal to a second height; wherein the first height is the height of the first contact or the second contact, the second height is the sum of the heights of the protrusion and the first contact, or the second height is the sum of the heights of the protrusion and the second contact.
Optionally, the contact with the layered structure inside is a graphite contact or a multi-layer graphene contact.
Optionally, in the RF MEMS switch, the driving electrode includes a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode is connected to a lower surface of the cantilever beam, and the second electrode is disposed opposite to the first electrode.
Optionally, in the RF MEMS switch, the first contact includes a plurality of first contact units connected in parallel, and the second contact includes a plurality of second contact units connected in parallel; when the first contact and the second contact are contacted, the first contact unit is contacted with the second contact unit in a one-to-one correspondence.
The application also provides an electronic device comprising any of the RF MEMS switches described above.
An RF MEMS switch provided by the present application, comprising: a cantilever beam; the first contact is arranged at the free end of the cantilever beam; a second contact disposed opposite the first contact; the first contact and the second contact are in super-sliding contact in structure when in contact; and the driving electrode is used for driving the free end of the cantilever beam to generate displacement so as to enable the first contact to be contacted with or separated from the second contact.
Therefore, the RF MEMS switch comprises the cantilever beam, the first contact, the second contact, the conductive wrapping layer and the driving electrode, wherein the first contact is in super-sliding contact with the second contact, friction between the first contact and the second contact is almost close to zero, abrasion is zero, the service lives of the first contact and the second contact are prolonged, and the service life of the RF MEMS switch is prolonged.
In addition, the application also provides the electronic equipment with the advantages.
Drawings
For a clearer description of embodiments of the present application or of the prior art, the drawings that are used in the description of the embodiments or of the prior art will be briefly described, it being apparent that the drawings in the description that follow are only some embodiments of the present application, and that other drawings may be obtained from these drawings by a person of ordinary skill in the art without inventive effort.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art electrostatic driven contact RF MEMS switch;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an RF MEMS switch according to an embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a circuit in which current flows between a first contact and a second contact;
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another RF MEMS switch according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another RF MEMS switch according to an embodiment of the present application.
Detailed Description
In order to provide a better understanding of the present application, those skilled in the art will now make further details of the present application with reference to the drawings and detailed description. It will be apparent that the described embodiments are only some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the present disclosure, are within the scope of the present disclosure.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present utility model, but the present utility model may be practiced in other ways other than those described herein, and persons skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the present utility model is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.
As described in the background section, when the electrostatically actuated contact RF MEMS switch is in use, the upper contact and the lower contact are in contact, and current flows through the cantilever beam to the upper contact and then through the interface of the upper contact and the lower contact to the lower contact, and out of the lower contact. The phenomena of frictional wear, ablation, material transfer, resistance increase and the like of the interface between the upper contact and the lower contact seriously affect the service life of the electrostatic drive contact type RF MEMS switch.
In view of this, the present application provides an RF MEMS switch, please refer to fig. 2, which includes:
a cantilever beam 1;
the first contact 2 is arranged at the free end of the cantilever beam 1;
a second contact 3 disposed opposite to the first contact 2;
the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are in super-sliding contact in structure when in contact;
and a driving electrode for driving the free end of the cantilever beam 1 to displace so as to make the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 contact or separate.
The friction force between the surfaces contacted by the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 of the structure ultra-sliding contact finger is almost zero, the abrasion is zero, and meanwhile, the interface contact area is close to 100 percent, so that the abrasion of the RF MEMS switch can not occur, and the service life and the operation power of the RF MEMS switch are improved.
When the structure is in an ultra-sliding contact state, at least one of the lower surface of the first contact 2 and the upper surface of the second contact 3 is a single crystal two-dimensional interface, and the single crystal two-dimensional interface is an atomically flat surface. An atomically flat surface refers to a surface having a roughness of less than 1 nm. An atomically flat surface may be obtained by processing a surface, which is an atomically flat surface that is a self-attribute of a single crystal two-dimensional material.
When the first contact 2 is a graphite ultra-sliding contact, the upper surface of the second contact 3 is an atomically flat surface or the second contact 3 is also a monocrystalline two-dimensional material; when the second contact 3 is a graphite super-slip contact, the lower surface of the first contact 2 is an atomically flat surface or the first contact 2 is also a single-crystal two-dimensional material.
Limiting to the current processing technology and material rigidity limit, two contacts in the prior art may slip when contacting, thereby causing abrasion phenomenon, which may lead to lower service life of the contacts. In this application, be the super smooth contact of structure between first contact 2 and the second contact 3, can prolong the life of RF MEMS switch, the surface that first contact 2 and second contact 3 contacted each other reaches the atomic level smooth moreover, so the area of contact of first contact 2 and second contact 3 when contacting is showing the increase when not super smooth contact for current output density is bigger, and the conductibility is more excellent, can improve power handling ability effectively, makes the RF MEMS switch have higher linearity simultaneously.
The internal structures of the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are not limited in this application, for example, the first contact 2 and/or the second contact 3 may have a layered structure or a non-layered structure.
The shapes of the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are not limited in this application, and may be appropriate. For example, the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 may be rectangular parallelepiped, square, cylindrical, or the like in shape.
The material of the cantilever beam 1 may be a metallic material, such as copper, iron, platinum, aluminum, zinc, titanium, tungsten, gold, etc.
As an embodiment, the driving electrode includes a first electrode 4 and a second electrode 5, the first electrode 4 is connected to the lower surface of the cantilever beam 1, and the second electrode 5 is disposed opposite to the first electrode 4.
Further, the method may further include:
and an insulating layer 8 provided on the upper surface of the second electrode 5.
Optionally, the RF MEMS switch may further include:
and the substrate 7, the fixed end of the cantilever beam 1 is connected with the substrate 7, and the second electrode 5 and the second contact 3 are arranged on the upper surface of the substrate 7.
The working principle of the RF MEMS switch in the embodiment is as follows: when a driving voltage V is applied between the first electrode 4 and the second electrode 5, the cantilever beam 1 moves downwards under the action of electrostatic force to drive the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 to be closed, and a current signal input end and an output end are communicated. At this time, the external radio frequency current circuit is turned on, and the radio frequency current signal flows in from the input end, passes through the conductive cantilever beam 1, passes through the first contact 2 and the second contact 3, and then flows out from the output end. When the driving voltage V is withdrawn, the cantilever beam 1 is restored to the initial state, the first contact 2 is separated from the second contact 3, the input end is disconnected from the output end, and the external radio frequency current circuit is cut off.
The RF MEMS switch comprises a cantilever beam 1, a first contact 2, a second contact 3, a conductive wrapping layer 6 and a driving electrode, wherein the first contact is in super-sliding contact with the second contact, friction between the first contact and the second contact is almost close to zero, abrasion is zero, the service lives of the first contact and the second contact are prolonged, and the service life of the RF MEMS switch is prolonged.
On the basis of the above embodiment, in one embodiment of the present application, when at least one of the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 is a contact with a layered structure, the RF MEMS switch further includes:
a conductive wrapping 6 surrounding the contact side surface of the inner layered structure.
The contacts with the internal laminated structure can be graphite contacts, multilayer graphene contacts and the like.
The first contact 2 and the second contact 3 comprise three combination conditions, wherein the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are contacts with a layered structure inside; the second type, the first contact 2 is a contact with a layered structure inside, and the second contact 3 is a metal contact; third, the first contact 2 is a metal contact, and the second contact 3 is a contact having a layered structure inside. The material of the metal contacts includes, but is not limited to, any one or any combination of nickel, copper, iron, platinum, aluminum, zinc, titanium, tungsten, gold.
When the first contact 2 is a contact with a layered structure, the conductive wrapping layer 6 can also realize stable connection between the first contact 2 and the cantilever beam 1.
It will be appreciated that since the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 need to be in contact, the height of the conductive wrap 6 is preferably less than the height of the contacts which are internally of a layered structure, as shown in figure 2. Of course, the height of the conductive coating 6 may also be equal to the height of the contacts of the surrounding layered structure.
The graphite contact is of a multi-layer structure, layering is easy to occur, and the side surface conductive wrapping layer 6 surrounding the graphite contact can be a metal wrapping layer, so that the graphite contact can be protected on one hand, and layering of the graphite contact is avoided; on the other hand, the total resistance of the switching system when the first contact 2 is in contact with the second contact 3 can be reduced. Referring to fig. 3, when current flows through the graphite contacts and the side conductive wrapping layer 6 is not provided, electrons are transferred between layers of the graphite contacts, the resistance between the layers is relatively large, and when one of the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 is a graphite contact and the other is a metal contact, the interface resistance is relatively large when the two contacts are in contact; when the conductive wrapping layer 6 is arranged, current enters the part of the graphite contact, which is not wrapped by the conductive wrapping layer 6, through the conductive wrapping layer 6 on the side surface, the edge of the side surface of the graphite contact is transmitted into the graphite contact, the bottommost layer of the graphite contact is a single-layer graphene surface, no redundant electrons exist in internal carbon atoms, the carbon atoms on the side surface are exposed, and redundant unbonded electrons exist, so that the side surface contact resistance between the graphite contact and the conductive wrapping layer 6 is obviously reduced, the resistance value can be reduced by three orders of magnitude, the resistance of the RF MEMS switch is reduced, the energy loss is reduced, and the service life is prolonged.
In the embodiment, the conductive wrapping layer 6 is arranged on the side surface of the contact with the layered structure inside, so that layering and stripping of the contact with the layered structure inside can be avoided, and the reliability and the service life of the RF MEMS switch are improved; and when the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are contacted, current flows into the contacts with the layered structure from the side surface conductive wrapping layer 6, and the side surface contact resistance between the conductive wrapping layer 6 and the contacts with the layered structure is small, so that the total resistance of the RF MEMS switch is reduced, the energy loss is reduced, the radio frequency performance is improved, and the service life is prolonged.
Referring to fig. 4, in one embodiment of the present application, based on the above embodiment, the RF MEMS switch further includes:
a protrusion 9, the protrusion 9 being connected to the first contact 2 and being arranged opposite to the second contact 3, and/or the protrusion 9 being connected to the second contact 3 and being arranged opposite to the first contact 2; the surfaces of the protrusions 9 opposite to the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are atomically smooth surfaces.
The protrusion 9 may be provided on the lower surface of the first contact 2, or on the upper surface of the second contact 3, or on both the lower surface of the first contact 2 and the upper surface of the second contact 3. In fig. 4 is shown with the protrusion 9 on the upper surface of the second contact 3.
The surfaces of the protrusions 9 opposite to the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are atomically smooth surfaces, and when the RF MEMS switch is closed, the protrusions 9 are in super-sliding contact with the contacted surfaces.
Optionally, as an implementation manner, the surfaces of the protrusions 9 opposite to the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are arc surfaces, as shown in fig. 4, so that the edge effect of the protrusions 9 can be avoided to increase friction force, and the phenomenon of tip discharge can be avoided, thereby further prolonging the service life of the RF MEMS switch; however, the present application is not limited to this, and as another embodiment, the surface of the protrusion 9 opposite to the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 is a plane, as shown in fig. 5.
Preferably, the protrusion 9 and the first contact 2 or the second contact 3 are integrated, so that the processing difficulty can be reduced.
It should be noted that when the RF MEMS switch is provided with the bump 9, the height of the conductive wrapping 6 is not limited in this embodiment. As an alternative embodiment, the height of the conductive coating 6 is smaller than the height of the first contact 2 and the height of the second contact 3. As another embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, the height of the conductive wrapping layer 6 is greater than the first height and less than or equal to the second height; wherein the first height is the height of the first contact 2 and the second contact 3, the second height is the sum of the heights of the protrusion 9 and the first contact 2, or the second height is the sum of the heights of the protrusion 9 and the second contact 3.
On the basis of any one of the above embodiments, in one embodiment of the present application, the first contact 2 includes a plurality of parallel first contact 2 units, and the second contact 3 includes a plurality of parallel second contact 3 units; when the first contact 2 and the second contact 3 are contacted, the first contact 2 unit is contacted with the second contact 3 unit in a one-to-one correspondence.
In this embodiment, the power of the RF MEMS switch can be increased by providing the first contact 2 as a plurality of parallel first contact 2 units and the second contact 3 as a plurality of parallel second contact 3 units.
The application also provides an electronic device comprising the RF MEMS switch according to any of the embodiments above.
In this specification, each embodiment is described in a progressive manner, and each embodiment is mainly described in a different point from other embodiments, so that the same or similar parts between the embodiments are referred to each other.
The RF MEMS switch and electronic device provided by the present application are described in detail above. Specific examples are employed herein to illustrate the principles and embodiments of the present application, and the above examples are provided only to assist in understanding the aspects of the present application and their core ideas. It should be noted that it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various improvements and modifications can be made to the present application without departing from the principles of the present application, and such improvements and modifications fall within the scope of the claims of the present application.
Claims (10)
1. An RF MEMS switch, comprising:
a cantilever beam;
the first contact is arranged at the free end of the cantilever beam;
a second contact disposed opposite the first contact;
the first contact and the second contact are in super-sliding contact in structure when in contact;
and the driving electrode is used for driving the free end of the cantilever beam to generate displacement so as to enable the first contact to be contacted with or separated from the second contact.
2. The RF MEMS switch of claim 1, wherein when at least one of the first contact and the second contact is a contact having a layered structure inside, further comprising:
and a conductive wrapping layer surrounding the contact side surface of the internal laminated structure.
3. The RF MEMS switch of claim 2, further comprising:
a protrusion connected to the first contact and disposed opposite the second contact, and/or connected to the second contact and disposed opposite the first contact; the surfaces of the protrusions, which are opposite to the first contact and the second contact, are atomically smooth surfaces.
4. The RF MEMS switch of claim 3, wherein a surface of the protrusion opposite the first contact and the second contact is an arcuate surface.
5. The RF MEMS switch of claim 3, wherein a surface of the protrusion opposite the first contact and the second contact is planar.
6. The RF MEMS switch of claim 3, wherein a height of the conductive wrap is greater than a first height and less than or equal to a second height; wherein the first height is the height of the first contact or the second contact, the second height is the sum of the heights of the protrusion and the first contact, or the second height is the sum of the heights of the protrusion and the second contact.
7. The RF MEMS switch of claim 2, wherein the contacts that are internally layered structures are graphite contacts or multi-layer graphene contacts.
8. The RF MEMS switch of claim 1, wherein the actuation electrode comprises a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode coupled to a lower surface of the cantilever beam, the second electrode disposed opposite the first electrode.
9. The RF MEMS switch of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the first contact comprises a plurality of first contact elements connected in parallel and the second contact comprises a plurality of second contact elements connected in parallel; when the first contact and the second contact are contacted, the first contact unit is contacted with the second contact unit in a one-to-one correspondence.
10. An electronic device comprising an RF MEMS switch as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202223327152.1U CN219286238U (en) | 2022-12-09 | 2022-12-09 | RF MEMS switch and electronic equipment |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202223327152.1U CN219286238U (en) | 2022-12-09 | 2022-12-09 | RF MEMS switch and electronic equipment |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CN219286238U true CN219286238U (en) | 2023-06-30 |
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Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
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| CN202223327152.1U Active CN219286238U (en) | 2022-12-09 | 2022-12-09 | RF MEMS switch and electronic equipment |
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| CN (1) | CN219286238U (en) |
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- 2022-12-09 CN CN202223327152.1U patent/CN219286238U/en active Active
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