Beam Switching Reflectarray Monolithically Integrated With RF MEMS Switches

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 60; no. 2; pp. 854 - 862
• Main Authors: Bayraktar, O., Civi, O. A., Akin, T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.02.2012; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antennas; Applied sciences; Beam switching; Bonding; Exact sciences and technology; micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) switches; Micromachining; Micromechanical devices; Microstrip; Microstrip antennas; Microswitches; Power transmission lines; Radio frequencies; Radio frequency; Radiocommunications; reconfigurable antennas; Reflectarray antennas; Reflection; Switches; Switching; Switching and signalling; Systems, networks and services of telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; reconfigurable antennas; Phase shift; micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) switches; Micromachining; Printed antenna; Reflectarray antennas; Phased array antenna; Aperture coupling; Micromachine; Switching; Reflector antenna; Transmission line; Microstrip antennas; Reconfigurable architectures; Microelectromechanical device; Wafer
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2011.2173099

A reflectarray antenna monolithically integrated with 90 RF MEMS switches has been designed and fabricated to achieve switching of the main beam. Aperture coupled microstrip patch antenna (ACMPA) elements are used to form a 10 × 10 element reconfigurable reflectarray antenna operating at 26.5 GHz. The change in the progressive phase shift between the elements is obtained by adjusting the length of the open ended transmission lines in the elements with the RF MEMS switches. The reconfigurable reflectarray is monolithically fabricated with the RF MEMS switches in an area of 42.46 cm 2 using an in-house surface micromachining and wafer bonding process. The measurement results show that the main beam can be switched between broadside and 40° in the H-plane at 26.5 GHz.