Microswitches with sputtered Au, AuPd,Au-on-AuPt, and AuPtCu alloy electric contacts

Author

Coutu, Ronald A., Jr. ; Reid, James R. ; Cortez, Rebecca ; Strawser, Richard E. ; Kladitis, Paul E.

Author_Institution

Antenna Technol. Branch, Air Force Res. Lab., Hanscom, MA

Volume

29

Issue

2

fYear

2006

fDate

6/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

341

Lastpage

349

Abstract

This paper is the first to report on a new analytic model for predicting microcontact resistance and the design, fabrication, and testing of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) metal contact switches with sputtered bimetallic (i.e., gold (Au)-on-Au-platinum (Pt), (Au-on-Au-(6.3at%)Pt)), binary alloy (i.e., Au-palladium (Pd), (Au-(3.7at%)Pd)), and ternary alloy (i.e., Au-Pt-copper (Cu), (Au-(5.0at%)Pt-(0.5at%)Cu)) electric contacts. The microswitches with bimetallic and binary alloy contacts resulted in contact resistance values between 1-2Omega. Preliminary reliability testing indicates a 3times increase in switching lifetime when compared to microswitches with sputtered Au electric contacts. The ternary alloy exhibited approximately a 6times increase in switch lifetime with contact resistance values ranging from approximately 0.2-1.8Omega

Keywords

contact resistance; copper alloys; electrical contacts; gold; life testing; microswitches; palladium alloys; platinum alloys; reliability; Au-AuPt; AuPd; AuPtCu; bimetallic alloys; binary alloy; electric contacts; metal contact switches; microcontact resistance; microswitches; reliability testing; switching lifetime; ternary alloy; Contact resistance; Copper alloys; Electric resistance; Fabrication; Gold alloys; Microswitches; Platinum alloys; Predictive models; Switches; System testing; Alloys; electric contacts; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS); microswitch;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Components and Packaging Technologies, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1521-3331

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TCAPT.2006.875898

Filename

1637768