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US 11,476,245 B2Granted
ESD protection of MEMS for RF applications
AssigneeQorvo US, Inc.
InventorsRoberto Gaddi, James Douglas Huffman, Chenhui Niu, Ray Parkhurst
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure generally relates to the combination of MEMS intrinsic technology with specifically designed solid state ESD protection circuits in state of the art solid state technology for RF applications. Using ESD protection in MEMS devices has some level of complexity in the integration which can be seen by some as a disadvantage. However, the net benefits in the level of overall performance for insertion loss, isolation and linearity outweighs the disadvantages.
Claims15
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices connected in parallel between a radio frequency (RF) electrode and ground, wherein each of the plurality of MEMS devices is configured to be switched at a same time by applying a voltage to a common pull-down electrode;
- and
- a first electrostatic discharge (ESD) device coupled in parallel to the plurality of MEMS devices between the RF electrode and ground, wherein the plurality of MEMS devices are arranged on a substrate and the first ESD device is an element that is positioned separate from the substrate.
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices connected in parallel between a first radio frequency (RF) electrode and a second RF electrode, wherein each of the plurality of MEMS devices is configured to be switched at a same time by applying a voltage to a common pull-down electrode;
- and
- a first electrostatic discharge (ESD) device coupled between the second RF electrode and ground, wherein the plurality of MEMS devices are arranged on a substrate and the first ESD device is an element that is positioned separate from the substrate.
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices, wherein each MEMS device of the plurality of MEMS devices is connected in parallel between a first radio frequency (RF) electrode and a second RF electrode, wherein each of the plurality of MEMS devices is configured to be switched at a same time by applying a voltage to a common pull-down electrode;
- and
- a first electrostatic discharge (ESD) device coupled between the first RF electrode and ground, wherein the plurality of MEMS devices are arranged on a substrate and the first ESD device is an element that is positioned separate from the substrate.
A device, comprising:
- a plurality of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices connected in parallel between a first radio frequency (RF) electrode and a second RF electrode, wherein each of the plurality of MEMS devices is configured to be switched at a same time by applying a voltage to a common pull-down electrode;
- a first electrostatic discharge (ESD) device coupled between the first RF electrode and ground;
- and
- a second ESD device coupled between the second RF electrode and ground, wherein the plurality of MEMS devices are arranged on a substrate and the first ESD device and the second ESD device are provided as elements that are positioned separate from the substrate.
1 more element
A device, comprising:
- a first radio frequency (RF) electrode;
- a plurality of second RF electrodes, wherein a switch is present between each second RF electrode and the first RF electrode;
- a first electrostatic discharge (ESD) device coupled between each second RF electrode and each switch;
- a second ESD device coupled between each switch and the first RF electrode;
- and
- a third ESD device serially coupled between ground and each first ESD device and the second ESD device, wherein a plurality of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices are arranged on a substrate and the first ESD device, the second EDS device, and the third ESD device are provided as elements that are positioned separate from the substrate.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.