A survey on low actuation voltage RF MEMS switches

RF MEMS switches can substantially reduce size, mass and power consumption. They can also improve RF performance. Therefore they could be utilized for switch matrices. A study on low actuation voltage RF MEMS switch has been presented in this paper. All existing methods for reducing the actuation voltage is reviewed in this paper. The best method is reducing the spring constant that could be achieved by using a spring structure. Also, some RF MEMS switches are investigated in this paper that have a low actuation voltage value between 6V to 9V. Size, weight and power consumption of devices are important factor for space application. RF MEMS switches have small sizes and weights. Furthermore in this paper some RF MEMS structures are discussed which have low actuation voltage and consume low power, which are important in space system.