Patent ID: 7463123

Claim:
A microelectromechanical (MEMS) contact switch, the switch comprising: a 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 having an sub-micron angular separation across the metal beam to form 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; and an actuation pad positioned beneath the suspended metal beam section and separated from the suspended metal beam section by an air-gap.