Title :
Electrical Contact Reliability in a Magnetic MEMS Switch
Author :
Vincent, M. ; Chiesi, L. ; Fourrier, J.C. ; Garnier, A. ; Grappe, B. ; Lapiere, C. ; Coutier, C. ; Samperio, A. ; Paineau, S. ; Houzë, F. ; Noël, S.
Author_Institution :
Innovation Dept., Schneider Electr. Ind., Grenoble
Abstract :
This paper reports on the reliability issues encountered during the development of a dry ohmic switch fabricated in MEMS technology. Particularly, focus is made on electrical contact reliability. Contact degradation during hot switching tests has been noticed, and leads to switch lifetime limitation. In order to understand this phenomenon, characterizations have been performed on damaged switches and degradation modes have been cleary identified. Solutions have been implemented and finally the Schneider Electric MEMS switch is able to switch 5 V/1 mA loads for several millions of cycles and 14 V/10 mA loads for several 104 of cycles.
Keywords :
electrical contacts; magnetic switching; microswitches; reliability; Schneider switch; contact degradation; current 1 mA; current 10 mA; dry ohmic switch; electrical contact reliability; hot switching tests; magnetic MEMS switch; voltage 10 V; voltage 5 V; Contacts; Degradation; Gold; Isolation technology; Micromechanical devices; Microswitches; Oxidation; Surface cleaning; Surface contamination; Switches;
Conference_Titel :
Electrical Contacts, 2008. Proceedings of the 54th IEEE Holm Conference on
Conference_Location :
Orlando, FL
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1901-2
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1902-9
DOI :
10.1109/HOLM.2008.ECP.36
