Reliability of MEMS: Effects of different stress conditions and mechanical fatigue failure detection

Author

Soma, Aurelio ; De Pasquale, Giorgio

Author_Institution

Mech. Dept., Politec. di Torino, Turin, Italy

fYear

2010

fDate

20-23 April 2010

Firstpage

72

Lastpage

80

Abstract

The mechanical fatigue behavior of gold microbeams is analyzed. Dedicated devices have been designed and built able to produce alternate loading on gold specimens; the electrostatic actuation is used as driving force. Gold beams are tested under both bending and tensile alternate loadings. Results were used to plot S-N curves and fatigue Goodman-Smith diagram in order to estimate the fatigue limit of the material in presence of mean and alternate stress conditions. The surface topography evolution is studied and failure modes are discussed.

Keywords

electrostatic actuators; fatigue; micromechanical devices; reliability; stress effects; MEMS reliability; S-N curves; electrostatic actuation; fatigue Goodman-Smith diagram; gold microbeams; mechanical fatigue failure detection; stress condition effect; surface topography evolution; Atomic force microscopy; Fatigue; Gold; Micromechanical devices; Optical microscopy; Scanning electron microscopy; Stress; Surface topography; Temperature sensors; Thermal resistance; MEMS; Mechanical fatigue; alternate loading; finite elements simulation; gold microbeams; iterferometric techniques; reliability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Perspective Technologies and Methods in MEMS Design (MEMSTECH), 2010 Proceedings of VIth International Conference on

Conference_Location

Lviv

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-7325-0

Electronic_ISBN

978-966-2191-11-0

Type

conf

Filename

5499323