A novel multifunctional electronic calibration kit integrated by MEMS SPDT switches*

Abstract

Design and simulation results of a novel multifunctional electronic calibration kit based on microelectromechanical system (MEMS) single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switches are presented in this paper. The short-open-load-through (SOLT) calibration states can be completed simultaneously by using the MEMS electronic calibration, and the electronic calibrator can be reused 106 times. The simulation results show that this novel electronic calibration can be used in a frequency range of 0.1 GHz–20 GHz, the return loss is less than 0.18 dB and 0.035 dB in short-circuit and open-circuit states, respectively, and the insertion loss in through (thru) state is less than 0.27 dB. On the other hand, the size of this novel calibration kit is only 6 mm × 2.8 mm × 0.8 mm. Our results demonstrate that the calibrator with integrated radio-frequency microelectromechanical system (RF MEMS) switches can not only provide reduced size, loss, and calibration cost compared with traditional calibration kit but also improves the calibration accuracy and efficiency. It has great potential applications in millimeter-wave measurement and testing technologies, such as device testing, vector network analyzers, and RF probe stations.