Patent ID: 7718461
Filing Date: 2010-05-18
Classification: H01H,H01P

Abstract:
1. A method of fabricating a microelectromechanical (MEMS) contact switch, the method comprising the steps of: fabricating an actuation pad on a high-resistivity silicon wafer; fabricating a coplanar waveguide onto the silicon wafer, the coplanar waveguide having a center conductor for conveying a signal and two conductive ground plane elements, the ground plane elements positioned on either side of the center conductor and separated therefrom by two air gaps having substantially the same width, the center conductor further comprising a suspended metal beam section, the suspended metal beam section positioned to be suspended above the actuation pad and separated from the actuation pad by an air-gap; forming a sub-micron angular separation across the metal beam section resulting in an upper suspended cantilever fixed at a first end to the center conductor, and a lower suspended cantilever fixed at a first end to the center conductor, a second end of the upper suspended cantilever and a second end of the lower suspended cantilever adjacent to each other and separated from each other by the sub-micron angular separation.