Keysight Technologies announced that Menlo Micro has selected the company’s PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) and Electromagnetic (EM) Design software to accelerate developments in materials science to help create next-generation microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches. Menlo Micro intends to use the software for accurate 3D electromagnetic simulation and to integrate design, test, and evaluation workflows for the MM5130, an ultra-low-loss RF SP4T switch for high-power switching applications up to 26 GHz.
Menlo Micro wanted to validate performance of the MEMS switch, using its PCB de-embedding algorithms along with Keysight’s PathWave ADS software. “In choosing design tools, we needed to consider the whole flow, from the schematic to the 3D simulations,” said Dr. Xu Zhu, Menlo Micro’s director of technology. “Our engineers need to be familiar with the tools, and that is one of the reasons why we chose Keysight’s PathWave Advanced Design System as the core tool.”
Keysight’s EM Design software, including EMPro and RFPro, is integrated into the PathWave ADS platform, enabling Menlo to easily move from 2D layout to 3D model files. Keysight’s RFPro, with the SmartMount and Mesh Domain Optimization technologies, solved the mesh optimization challenges, as Menlo Micro’s design flow also includes tools from multiple vendors. Shortening the design cycle by 65%, the solution also offered improvements in power density (SP4T 25 W power handling), RF insertion loss, linearity, and power efficiency.
"Menlo Micro designed a complex, multi-technology module comprised of a wide range of geometries from micron-scale MEMs to millimeter-scale PCBs,” stated Tom Lillig, general manager of Keysight’s PathWave Design business. “Leveraging Keysight’s fast, high capacity, 3D EM circuit simulators they achieved a successful implementation in one pass.”
The process also involved created device prototypes as well as wafer-probing to verify first-pass manufacturing success. Measurements were made on Keysight’s VNA to validate performance against simulation results. The full case study is available at https://www.keysight.com/us/en/assets/7121-1063/case-studies/Driving-Innovation-Shortens-Design-Cycle-by-65-for-First-to-Market-MEMS-RF-Switch.pdf.
