Integrated MEMS switch

Abstract

The present invention provides a MEMS switch that is formed on, not merely placed on, a semiconductor substrate of a semiconductor device. The basic semiconductor substrate includes a handle wafer, an insulator layer over the handle wafer, and a device layer over the insulator layer. The device layer is one in which active semiconductor devices, such as transistors and diodes, may be formed. The MEMS switch is formed over the device layer during fabrication of the semiconductor device. Additional layers, such as connecting layers, passivation layers, and dielectric layers, may be inserted among or between any of these various layers without departing from the essence of the invention. As such, the present invention avoids the need to fabricate MEMS switches apart from the devices that contain circuitry to be associated with the MEMS switches, and to subsequently mount the MEMS switches to modules that circuitry.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.