Comparison of lateral and vertical switches for application as microrelays

Schiele, Ignaz; Hillerich, B.

doi:10.1088/0960-1317/9/2/310

Cited by 48 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…MEMS switch designers need to know the relationship between R and contact force to effectively size components and forces to provide stable contact resistance at minimum force [44,57]. Contact resistance has been measured in past studies using actual MEMS switches, atomic force microscopes (AFMs), and an interfacial force microscope (IFM), among others [5,6,8,18,20,27,28,31,37,39,44,47,50,52,[57][58][59][60]. One of the major problems with previous reports of R is a significant inconsistency in results.…”

Section: Contact Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unless otherwise specified, we will limit our discussion to Au-Au contacts. The results vary from study-to-study, and were conducted using different apparatus in either air (at various RH), dry nitrogen, or unspecified environments [20,27,28,31,37,39,44,45,50,52,[57][58][59][60][61][62]. Reported minimum R varied from less than 100 mW to several ohms at loads from 25 lN to 300 mN.…”

Section: Contact Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Fundamental studies of Au contacts in MEMS RF switches

2005

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Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) radio frequency (RF) switches hold great promise in a myriad of commercial, aerospace, and military applications. However, there is little understanding of the factors determining the performance and reliability of these devices. Fundamental studies of hot-switched gold (Au) contacts were conducted using a micro/nanoadhesion apparatus as a switch simulator. Experiments were conducted in a well defined air environment under precisely controlled operating conditions. Fundamental properties were connected to performance with an emphasis on the effects of contact force and electric current on contact resistance (R), microadhesion, and reliability/durability. Electric current had the most profound effect on switch performance. Observations at low current (1-10 lA) include: (1) slightly higher R; (2) asperity creep; (3) high adhesion after rapid switching; (4) switch bouncing; and (5) reasonable durability. Conversely, observations at high current (1-10 mA) include: (1) slightly lower R; (2) melting; (3) no measurable adhesion; (4) less propensity for switch bouncing; (5) necking of contacts; and (6) poor reliability and durability due to switch shorting. Low current behavior was dominated by the propensity to form smooth surface contacts by hammering, which led to high van der Waals force. High current behavior was dominated by the formation of Au nanowires that bridge the contact during separation. Data suggest the presence of an adventitious film containing carbon and oxygen. Aging of the contacts in air was found to reduce adhesion.

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Section: Contact Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contact Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamental studies of Au contacts in MEMS RF switches

2005

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“…Most switch designs are based on elements moving perpendicular to the wafer surface, requiring complicated multilayer surface micromachining techniques [5]- [7]. Laterally in-wafer-plane moving actuators, on the other hand, allow for uncomplicated bulk micromachining fabrication techniques with a drastically reduced number of process steps, and have already been employed for inline microswitches [8], [9]. However, laterallymoving designs previously reported in the literature, including previous work by the authors [10], are not suitable for switching RF signals since the rigid electrode of the actuator, typically even connected to the ground, must be placed in close vicinity to the moving electrode carrying the RF signal, which creates a large capacitive load resulting in a low characteristic impedance and thus imposing a heavy discontinuity to the transmission line.…”

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confidence: 99%

Static Zero-Power-Consumption Coplanar Waveguide Embedded DC-to-RF Metal-Contact MEMS Switches in Two-Port and Three-Port Configuration

Sterner

Roxhed

Stemme

et al. 2010

IEEE Trans. Electron Devices

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Abstract-This paper reports on novel electrostatically actuated dc-to-RF metal-contact microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches, featuring a minimum transmission line discontinuity since the whole switch mechanism is completely embedded inside the signal line of a low-loss 3-D micromachined coplanar waveguide. Furthermore, the switches are based on a multistable interlocking mechanism resulting in static zero-power consumption, i.e., both the onstate and the offstate are maintained without applying external actuation energy. Additionally, the switches provide with active opening capability, potentially improving the switch reliability, and enabling the usage of soft low-resistivity contact materials.

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“…Compared with the vertical switches, the laterally actuated RF MEMS switches have merits of in-plane design flexibility and simple process (Schiele and Hillerich 1999). Currently, varieties of lateral switches have been reported (Li et al 2000;Wang et al 2004;Shi et al 2007;Simon et al 1998;Kamide and Suzuki 2006;Daneshmand et al 2009;Kang et al 2009), but most of these lateral switches are based on metal contact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A lateral RF MEMS capacitive switch utilizing parylene as dielectric

Liu

et al. 2011

Microsyst Technol

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A novel lateral RF MEMS capacitive switch was reported in this paper. This switch employed parylene as the dielectric material, taking advantages of its low temperature deposition and conformal coating. The low resistivity single crystalline silicon served as the material of the mechanical structures. The switch was fabricated by bulk micromachining processes with only two lithographic masks and a shadow mask. The dynamical response, parylene insulation performance, and RF performances of the fabricated switch were characterized, respectively. The switching time from the open state to the close state was 105 ls at a loaded voltage of 78 V, while 15.6 ls from the close state to the open state. The isolation was better than 15 dB from 20 to 40 GHz, and the maximal isolation was 23.5 dB at 25 GHz; while the insertion loss was below 1.4 dB at 25 GHz, when bonding wires connected the ground lines. These results verify that the parylene is a good candidate material to act as sidewall dielectric to realize the lateral capacitive switch.

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Comparison of lateral and vertical switches for application as microrelays

Cited by 48 publications

References 3 publications

Fundamental studies of Au contacts in MEMS RF switches

Fundamental studies of Au contacts in MEMS RF switches

Static Zero-Power-Consumption Coplanar Waveguide Embedded DC-to-RF Metal-Contact MEMS Switches in Two-Port and Three-Port Configuration

A lateral RF MEMS capacitive switch utilizing parylene as dielectric

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