IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS, VOL. 15, NO.

11, NOVEMBER 2005

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ANN Based Electromagnetic Models for the Design of RF MEMS Switches

Yongjae Lee, Student Member, IEEE, and Dejan S. Filipovic, Member, IEEE
AbstractArticial neural network (ANN)-based modeling approach for the design of radio frequency microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches is presented. In the proposed methodology, a nite element method analysis is performed for the switch characterization and for the creation of training and testing sets for the ANN. Developed full-wave/ANN models allow for circuit level design, simulation, and optimization in a schematic of a circuit simulator. The simulation time is reduced for two orders of magnitude, while the accuracy of the full-wave method is maintained. Index TermsComputer aided design (CAD), electromagnetic (EM) analysis, feedforward neural network, nite element methods (FEMs), microelectromechanical system (MEMS).
Fig. 1. ANN based modeling procedure for RF MEMS devices.

I. INTRODUCTION

ADIO FREQUENCY microelectromechanical system (RF MEMS) switches inherently have broad bandwidth, high isolation, low power consumption, and other properties making them viable candidates for various applications including recongurable antennas, lters, phase shifters, and related circuits [1]. To analyze, design, and optimize these complex congurations, several computer aided design (CAD) methodologies have been proposed. For example, nonlinear dynamics and static simulations are performed using equivalent circuit models [2], [3]. Although computationally efcient, these techniques sometimes fail to accurately model complex structures. As an alternative, hybrid approaches combining two or more methods [4] typically provide improved accuracy in modeling MEMS devices. However, the full-wave based design and optimization of MEMS devices, particularly the integration within a circuit simulator and design of complex integrated circuits with MEMS components remain challenging research tasks. To eliminate these limitations, we generalize the previously proposed scheme in [5] by eliminating the need for an equivalent electrical network model and propose an articial neural network (ANN)-based modeling approach schematically depicted in Fig. 1. A coplanar waveguide (CPW) shunt RF MEMS switch [6] is selected as an example for which the methodology will be demonstrated. Full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulations are performed using an Ansoft high frequency structure simulator (HFSS) [7]. Device characterization and generation of training and testing datasets are realized from this analysis. Insertion loss and return loss are computed as the size of structural parameters is varied. Obtained input and output relationships are mapped
Manuscript received March 9, 2005; revised August 30, 2005. The review of this letter was arranged by Associate Editor A. Weisshaar. The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0425 USA (e-mail: yongjae@colorado.edu; dejan@colorado.edu). Digital Object Identier 10.1109/LMWC.2005.859001

Fig. 2. Schematic of a CPW MEMS shunt switch in (a) top view and (b) cross section view.

using the ANN technique. Given a valid range of input variables, ANNs are trained and tested using CU-ANN [8]. It is important to note that ANNs are tested against both the training set and examples that the ANNs have not been trained with. Thus, both generalization and accuracy of the scheme are attained. Developed ANN model maintains the accuracy of the full-wave analysis while signicantly saving the running time. Therefore, it allows design, simulation, and optimization of RF circuits with embedded MEMS devices with extremely low computational overhead. II. FULL-WAVE MODELING OF RF MEMS SWITCHES A. CPW Shunt RF MEMS Switch A drawing of a CPW RF MEMS shunt switch [6] with appropriate geometrical parameters and material properties is shown in Fig. 2. The switch is composed of a metallic membrane suspended over the CPW line. Both ends of the membrane are xed to the ground. When the switch is at up-state position, all RF signal pass through the signal line. In contrast, it becomes a reective

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IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS, VOL. 15, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2005

Fig. 3. Comparison of S -parameters between the HFSS model and the measurements at (a) down-state position and (b) up-state position.

TABLE I RANGE SELECTION OF ANN INPUT VARIABLES

Fig. 4.

Feedforward ANN architecture with input and output parameters.

switch when the membrane collapses on a thin dielectric layer. This dynamics is simulated in HFSS. B. Model Validation To demonstrate the accuracy of the realized full-wave EM model, we utilized the measurements from [6] for validation. In a solution setup, adaptive renement process is performed iteratively until the errors in the -parameters converged to 0.5%.
Fig. 5. Validation of ANNs with HFSS model for the selected input 106 m and W s 48 m, 2) Ls 146 m and parameters: 1) Ls W s 63 m, and (3) Ls 154 m and W s 88 m. The magnitude and phase of S -parameters are computed for the switch at (a), (b) down-state position and (c), (d) up-state position.

LEE AND FILIPOVIC: ANN BASED ELECTROMAGNETIC MODELS

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TABLE II CORRELATION AND ERROR RESULTS FOR THE ANN MODEL

IV. RESULTS To demonstrate the accuracy and efciency of the developed modeling approach, arbitrarily selected physical input parameters within a range of training sets are used for validation. The summary of correlation and error results is given in Table II and the magnitude and phase of the predicted -parameters for both positions of the switch are shown in Fig. 5. As seen, excellent agreement between the ANN and HFSS model is obtained. Note that for a single run, the execution in the HFSS model takes 420 s compared to only 0.7 s for the ANN model, thus giving rise to 600 reduction. V. CONCLUSION An efcient approach for the analysis and design of RF MEMS switches and related circuits is presented. It is shown that the developed ANN model preserves the accuracy of the nite element method (FEM) while reducing running time for two orders of magnitude. The CAD and optimization of MEMS switches and corresponding RF/microwave circuits are now straightforward. REFERENCES
[1] G. M. Rebeiz, RF MEMS Theory, Design, and Technology. New York: Wiley, 2003. [2] D. Mercier, P. Blondy, D. Cros, and P. Guillon, An electromechanical model for MEMS switches, in IEEE MTT-S Int. Dig., vol. 3, May 2001, pp. 21232126. [3] R. Marcelli et al., Lumped element modeling of coplanar series RF MEMS switches, Electron. Lett., vol. 40, no. 20, pp. 12721274, Sep. 2004. [4] Z. Wang, B. Jensen, J. Volakis, K. Saitou, and K. Kurabayashi, Analysis of RF-MEMS switches using nite element-boundary integration with moment method, in Proc. IEEE Antennas Propagation Soc. Int. Symp., vol. 2, Jun. 2003, pp. 173176. [5] Y. J. Lee et al., Articial neural network modeling of RF MEMS resonators, Int. J. RF Microw. CAE, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 302316, Jul. 2004. [6] J. B. Muldavin and G. M. Rebeiz, High-isolation CPW MEMS shunt switches. 1. Modeling, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 10451052, Jun. 2000. [7] Ansoft, Inc. (2005) High Frequency Structure Simulation (HFSS). Tech. Rep. [Online]. Available: http://www.ansoft.com [8] M. Marwah, Y. Li, and R. L. Mahajan, Integrated neural network modeling for electronic manufacturing, J. Electron. Manufact., pp. 7971, 1996. [9] Q. J. Zhang and K. C. Gupta., Neural Networks for RF and Microwave Design. Norwood, MA: Artech House, 2000.

Fig. 3 depicts excellent prediction capability of the solver. Discrepancy in predicted -parameters is likely attributed to the dynamic range of measurement setup, the surface roughness of dielectric layers and the electrode, and possible differences in electrical parameters between the fabricated and modeled devices. Note that the measurements in [6] are performed up to 40 GHz. III. ANN MODEL ) and length ( ) are selected as input The switchs width ( variables while the insertion and return loss for up to the W-band are output variables. Total of 106 training and 28 testing datasets are generated. Selected range of input parameters is given in Table I. The ANN architecture consisting of two hidden layers with 11 neurons in each layer is shown in Fig. 4. Steepest gradient method [9] is utilized for training algorithm. To avoid overtting, ANNs are trained with testing datasets simultaneously. The performance is evaluated by computing the difference between outputs from ANNs and training datasets. This term is often called Correlation coefcient ( )

(1)

where ( 106) is the number of training datasets, is the number of samplings in output variables, and are outputs from the HFSS and the ANN model, respectively, and is the mean of the ANN model.