Tunable RF MEMS microinductors for future communication systems

Abstract

Tunable microinductors; can be designed controlling the magnetic coupling coefficient. This paper presents the design and fabrication of a new tunable RF MEMS microinductor. This component requires electrostatic actuators to control the inductance value. We report a 50% inductance variation from 1.5 to 5GHz measured on test wafers. A method to compute the inductance variation due to the mechanical displacement is briefly described. A compact lumped element model, based on the geometry, gives results in good agreement with measurements in the RF frequency range.