A surface-micromachining-based inertial micro-switch with compliant cantilever beam as movable electrode for enduring high shock and prolonging contact time

Xu, Qiu; Yang, Zhuoqing; Fu, Bo; Li, Jianhua; Wu, Hao; Zhang, Qihuan; Sun, Yunna; Ding, Guifu; Zhao, Xiaolin

doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.06.164

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Even through the electroplating technology can enable a long contact time of the inertial microswitches, its inherent fabrication errors as mentioned in Section 2 usually lead to a low threshold accuracy. For instance, in [66], the actual thresholds increased from 32 to 38 g, while the intended target was 38 g, and in [67], the measured threshold of the switch with the designed threshold of 240 g was 288 g. The threshold deviation may be more serious in the case of low-g switches, since a large proof mass and therefore a great number of electroplating processes are required [20,68].…”

Section: Flexible-electrode Inertial Micro-switchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As mentioned in Section 3, it is feasible to compensate for the threshold inaccuracy from the fabrication tolerance by designing redundant switches on the same threshold level [4,10] or adjusting the electrostatic force between the contact parts of the electrostatically actuated switches to tune the Even through the electroplating technology can enable a long contact time of the inertial micro-switches, its inherent fabrication errors as mentioned in Section 2 usually lead to a low threshold accuracy. For instance, in [66], the actual thresholds increased from 32 to 38 g, while the intended target was 38 g, and in [67], the measured threshold of the switch with the designed threshold of 240 g was 288 g. The threshold deviation may be more serious in the case of low-g switches, since a large proof mass and therefore a great number of electroplating processes are required [20,68].…”

Section: Low-g High-threshold-accuracy Inertial Micro-switchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recent Advancements in Inertial Micro-Switches

et al. 2019

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Inertial micro-switches have great potential in the applications of acceleration sensing, due to the integrated advantages of a small size, high integration level, and low or even no power consumption. This paper presents an overview of the recent advancements made in research on the sensitive direction, threshold acceleration, contact effect, and threshold accuracy of inertial micro-switches. The reviewed switches were categorized according to the performance parameters, including multi-directional switches, multi-threshold switches, persistent closed switches, flexible-electrode switches, and low-g high-threshold-accuracy switches. The current challenges and prospects are also discussed.

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Section: Flexible-electrode Inertial Micro-switchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Low-g High-threshold-accuracy Inertial Micro-switchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advancements in Inertial Micro-Switches

et al. 2019

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“…In recent years, in order to enhance the contact effect of the intermittent switch, there has been considerable effort put into the inertial micro-switch with a flexible electrode fabricated by the multi-layer process of electroplating technology [ 14 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. The contact effect can be improved by the deformation of the flexible electrode during the contact process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low-G Silicon Inertial Micro-Switch with Enhanced Contact Effect Using Squeeze-Film Damping

Peng

Zhang

et al. 2017

Sensors

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Abstract:Contact time is one of the most important properties for inertial micro-switches. However, it is usually less than 20 µs for the switch with rigid electrode, which is difficult for the external circuit to recognize. This issue is traditionally addressed by designing the switch with a keep-close function or flexible electrode. However, the switch with keep-close function requires an additional operation to re-open itself, causing inconvenience for some applications wherein repeated monitoring is needed. The switch with a flexible electrode is usually fabricated by electroplating technology, and it is difficult to realize low-g switches (<50 g) due to inherent fabrication errors. This paper reports a contact enhancement using squeeze-film damping effect for low-g switches. A vertically driven switch with large proof mass and flexible springs was designed based on silicon micromachining, in order to achieve a damping ratio of 2 and a threshold value of 10 g. The proposed contact enhancement was investigated by theoretical and experimental studies. The results show that the damping effect can not only prolong the contact time for the dynamic acceleration load, but also reduce the contact bounce for the quasi-static acceleration load. The contact time under dynamic and quasi-static loads was 40 µs and 570 µs, respectively.

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“…However, this extremely transient contact time will become a significant obstacle for subsequent signal processing if the microswitch is applied in an integrated circuit [10,11,12,13]. In order to facilitate the signal processing and enhance the contact effect, Wang et al designed a laterally-driven inertial microswitch using two cantilever beams as the fixed electrode, which can reduce the contact-bouncing effect and prolong the contact time [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Optimization of a Stationary Electrode in a Vertically-Driven MEMS Inertial Switch for Extending Contact Duration

Yang

et al. 2017

Sensors

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A novel micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) inertial microswitch with a flexible contact-enhanced structure to extend the contact duration has been proposed in the present work. In order to investigate the stiffness k of the stationary electrodes, the stationary electrodes with different shapes, thickness h, width b, and length l were designed, analyzed, and simulated using ANSYS software. Both the analytical and the simulated results indicate that the stiffness k increases with thickness h and width b, while decreasing with an increase of length l, and it is related to the shape. The inertial micro-switches with different kinds of stationary electrodes were simulated using ANSYS software and fabricated using surface micromachining technology. The dynamic simulation indicates that the contact time will decrease with the increase of thickness h and width b, but increase with the length l, and it is related to the shape. As a result, the contact time decreases with the stiffness k of the stationary electrode. Furthermore, the simulated results reveal that the stiffness k changes more rapidly with h and l compared to b. However, overlarge dimension of the whole microswitch is contradicted with small footprint area expectation in the structure design. Therefore, it is unreasonable to extend the contact duration by increasing the length l excessively. Thus, the best and most convenient way to prolong the contact time is to reduce the thickness h of the stationary electrode while keeping the plane geometric structure of the inertial micro-switch unchanged. Finally, the fabricated micro-switches with different shapes of stationary electrodes have been evaluated by a standard dropping hammer system. The test maximum contact time under 288 g acceleration can reach 125 µs. It is shown that the test results are in accordance with the simulated results. The conclusions obtained in this work can provide guidance for the future design and fabrication of inertial microswitches.

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A surface-micromachining-based inertial micro-switch with compliant cantilever beam as movable electrode for enduring high shock and prolonging contact time

Cited by 24 publications

References 14 publications

Recent Advancements in Inertial Micro-Switches

Recent Advancements in Inertial Micro-Switches

A Low-G Silicon Inertial Micro-Switch with Enhanced Contact Effect Using Squeeze-Film Damping

Design and Optimization of a Stationary Electrode in a Vertically-Driven MEMS Inertial Switch for Extending Contact Duration

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