A thermomechanical relay with microspring contact array

Author

Liu, Y. ; Li, X. ; Abe, T. ; Haga, Y. ; Esashi, M.

Author_Institution

Fac. of Eng., Tohoku Univ., Sendai, Japan

fYear

2001

fDate

25-25 Jan. 2001

Firstpage

220

Lastpage

223

Abstract

A micromachined thermomechanical relay with Au microspring contact array is presented. Thermally excited Al-SiO/sub 2/ bimorph cantilevers have been fabricated with micromachining technology. Sputtered Au/Pt/Ti contacts are formed on the tip of the cantilevers and microheaters are built in the cantilevers. In order to reduce the ON-resistance and to avoid the metallic binding between Au contacts, Au microspring contact array is fabricated on Pyrex glass. The fabricated thermomechanical microrelay is operated with input power levels ranging from 20-80 mW at frequencies up to 3 kHz. The ON resistance R/sub ON/, that includes contact resistance and signal line resistance is in the range of 200-500 m/spl Omega/ and switching time is about 300 /spl mu/sec. 10/sup 7/ cycles operation has been performed keeping the R/sub ON/ around 300 m/spl Omega/.

Keywords

contact resistance; electrical contacts; gold; micromachining; relays; 20 to 80 mW; 3 kHz; Al-SiO/sub 2/; Al-SiO/sub 2/ bimorph cantilever; Au microspring contact array; Au-Pt-Ti; Au/Pt/Ti sputtered contact; Pyrex glass; contact resistance; fabrication technology; microheater; micromachining; on-resistance; signal line resistance; switching time; thermal excitation; thermomechanical microrelay; Contact resistance; Electric resistance; Frequency; Glass; Gold; Micromachining; Microrelays; Relays; Thermomechanical processes; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2001. MEMS 2001. The 14th IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Interlaken, Switzerland

ISSN

1084-6999

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5998-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2001.906518

Filename

906518