Effect of membrane shape on mechanical behavior of RF switches

We present in this paper results on mechanical behavior of RF switches. The simulations show that the mechanical behavior of the switch is very sensitive to its shape (flat or wavy). The wavy parts of the bridge allow a better relaxation of gold layer stresses: for flat bridge this stress relaxation (20%) is related to the anchorage; for wavy bridge the stress relaxation (70%) is related especially to the profile (65%). This relaxation allows for wavy bridge to suppress the buckling under thermal stresses.