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Selected Works

Nipun Sinha

MEMS Switches

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

100nm Thick Aluminum Nitride Based Piezoelectric Nano Switches Exhibiting 1mv Threshold Voltage Via Body-Biasing, Nipun Sinha, Zhijun Guo, Valeriy Felmetsger, Gianluca Piazza Dec 2009

100nm Thick Aluminum Nitride Based Piezoelectric Nano Switches Exhibiting 1mv Threshold Voltage Via Body-Biasing, Nipun Sinha, Zhijun Guo, Valeriy Felmetsger, Gianluca Piazza

Nipun Sinha

This paper reports on the first demonstration of aluminum nitride (AlN) piezoelectric logic switches that were fabricated with ultra-thin (100nm) AlN films and exhibit a 1 mV threshold voltage via the body-biasing scheme. The application of a relatively low (< 6 V) fixed potential to the body terminal of a 4-terminal switch has resulted in a repeatable threshold voltage of 1 mV. The nano-switch has been cycled to > 109 cycles and, although the contact resistance was found to be high (~ 1 MΩ), the nano-films have functioned throughout to show high piezoelectric nano-film reliability.


Demonstration Of Low Voltage And Functionally Complete Logic Operations Using Body-Biased Complementary And Ultra-Thin Aln Piezoelectric Mechanical Switches, Nipun Sinha, Timothy S. Jones, Zhijun Guo, Gianluca Piazza Dec 2009

Demonstration Of Low Voltage And Functionally Complete Logic Operations Using Body-Biased Complementary And Ultra-Thin Aln Piezoelectric Mechanical Switches, Nipun Sinha, Timothy S. Jones, Zhijun Guo, Gianluca Piazza

Nipun Sinha

This paper reports, for the first time, on the demonstration of low voltage and functionally complete logic elements (NAND and NOR) implemented by using body-biased complementary and ultra-thin (250 nm thick) Aluminum Nitride (AlN) based piezoelectric mechanical switches. This work presents, firstly, the importance of scaling AlN films for the demonstration of ultra-thin AlN switches and, secondly, the implementation of a new actuation scheme based on body biasing to lower the switch threshold voltage. Four of these ultra-thin switches were connected together to synthesize functionally complete MEMS logic gates (NAND and NOR) with a ± 2V swing and a body-bias …


Integration Of Aln Micromechanical Contour-Mode Technology Filters With Three-Finger Dual Beam Aln Mems Switches, Nipun Sinha, Rashed Mahameed, Chengjie Zuo, Gianluca Piazza Dec 2008

Integration Of Aln Micromechanical Contour-Mode Technology Filters With Three-Finger Dual Beam Aln Mems Switches, Nipun Sinha, Rashed Mahameed, Chengjie Zuo, Gianluca Piazza

Nipun Sinha

In this paper, we present the first demonstration of the monolithic integration of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) micromechanical contour mode technology filters with dual-beam actuated MEMS AlN switches. This integration has lead to the development of the first prototype of a fully-integrated all-mechanical switchable filter. Integration has been demonstrated by using AlN contour-mode MEMS filters at two center frequencies, i.e. 98.7 and 279.9 MHz. The micromechanical switch design used here is a novel three-finger dual-beam topology that improves the isolation and insertion loss of the switch by decreasing the parasitic coupling between the DC and RF signals over a previous AlN …


Dual Beam Actuation Of Piezoelectric Aln Rf Mems Switches Integrated With Aln Contour-Mode Resonators, Nipun Sinha, Rashed Mahamameed, Chengjie Zuo, Marcelo B. Pisani, Carlos R. Perez, Gianluca Piazza Jun 2008

Dual Beam Actuation Of Piezoelectric Aln Rf Mems Switches Integrated With Aln Contour-Mode Resonators, Nipun Sinha, Rashed Mahamameed, Chengjie Zuo, Marcelo B. Pisani, Carlos R. Perez, Gianluca Piazza

Nipun Sinha

This work reports on piezoelectric Aluminum Nitride (AlN) based dual-beam RF MEMS switches that have been monolithically integrated with AlN contour-mode resonators. The dual-beam switch design presented in this paper intrinsically compensates for the residual stress in the deposited films, requires low actuation voltage (5-20 V), facilitates active pull-off to open the switch and fast switching times (1 to 2 µsec). This work also presents the combined response (cascaded S-parameters) of a resonator and a switch that were co-fabricated on the same substrate. The response shows that the resonator can be effectively turned on and off by the switch. A …