Abstract
In this paper, to evaluate the applicability of electrostatically-actuated metal to metal direct-contact RF MEMS switches in practical RF fields, we performed three kinds of lifetime tests for the switches using three different conditions: cold-switching with no power, hot-switching with RF power, and hot-switching with DC current loads. The tested MEMS switch was demonstrating stable operation even after 109 cycles when cold-switching with no loads. We also experimentally showed that the tested switches could endure up to 106 cycles with 0.5W of RF power and 108 cycles with 30mA of DC current.
