MEMS reliability in a vibration environment

Author

Tanner, Danelle M. ; Walraven, Jeremy A. ; Helgesen, Karen S. ; Irwin, Lloyd W. ; Gregory, Danny L. ; Stake, John R. ; Smith, Noiman F.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Labs., Albuquerque, NM, USA

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

139

Lastpage

145

Abstract

MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) were subjected to a vibration environment that had a peak acceleration of 120 g and spanned frequencies from 20 to 2000 Hz. The device chosen for this test was a surface-micromachined microengine because it possesses many elements (springs, gears, rubbing surfaces) that may be susceptible to vibration. The microengines were unpowered during the test. We observed 2 vibration-related failures and 3 electrical failures out of 22 microengines tested. Surprisingly, the electrical failures also arose in four microengines in our control group indicating that they were not vibration related. Failure analysis revealed that the electrical failures were due to shorting of stationary comb fingers to the ground plane

Keywords

electrostatic actuators; electrostatic motors; failure analysis; reliability; vibrations; 20 to 2000 Hz; MEMS reliability; electrical failure; electrostatic microactuator; failure analysis; gears; ground plane; microelectromechanical systems; peak acceleration; rubbing surfaces; shorting; springs; stationary comb fingers; surface-micromachined microengine; vibration environment; vibration-related failure; Failure analysis; Fingers; Frequency; Gears; Life estimation; Microelectromechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Springs; System testing; Vibration control;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium, 2000. Proceedings. 38th Annual 2000 IEEE International

Conference_Location

San Jose, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5860-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RELPHY.2000.843904

Filename

843904