Computational Design of the Electrical and Mechanical Performance of Steerable MEMS Antennas

This thesis describes the origins, improvements, and variations of a broadband microwave antenna that can be beam-steered by a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS). The steerable MEMS antenna of this work was comprised of a planar antenna on top of a Silicon membrane. The membrane is etched to create a gimbal hinge structure and a platform which supported the antenna and gave it one or two degrees of freedom of rotation. The antennas presented were broadband and fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line which traversed the hinge structure. The antenna's orientation in space was designed to be changed through electrostatic actuation of the antenna platform's hinges.;The goal of this thesis was to improve on the initial design and performance of the prototypic antenna. The best variation of the prototype antenna could rotate ±4.0° in two degrees of freedom under 800 VDC of actuation voltage and had a bandwidth of 1.55. The mechanical and electrical aspects of the device were studied and analyzed concurrently. Three variations of the MEMS antenna platform were design and modeled; Generations 1–3 (G1–G3). The G1 platform was an optimized version of the prototypic MEMS platform. The G2 platform could rotate in two dimensions but had much thinner hinges and a more robust antenna platform. The G3 platform was a one degree of freedom version of the G2 platform. A new antenna shape was selected and optimized for integration with the three generations of antenna platforms; the planar inverted cone antenna (PICA). The G3 platform had the best overall electrical and mechanical performance. Two additional antennas were simulated on the G3 platform; a cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (C-DRA) and a teardrop dielectric resonator antenna (Td-DRA). The three best antenna variations on the G3 platform were simulated to have maximum actuation angles ranging from 10–13° and have bandwidths of 3.62 (PICA), 1.70 (C-DRA), and 1.78 (Td-DRA).