MEMS Variable Capacitor Using Cross Membranes for RF Band

Abstract

This paper describes a novel design of MEMS variable capacitor with high quality factor and wide tuning range. The proposed MEMS variable capacitor is composed of two cross movable electrodes and one dielectric layer between them. The fabrication process does not require any complex processes, such as wafer transfer, wafer backside etching, special planarization or supercritical point drying. The capacitor has tuning range of 330% at 5 V bias voltage, and an overall quality factor of 52 at 2 pF and 2.4 GHz.