Lifetime Testing of a Developmental MEMS Switch Incorporating Au/MWCNT Composite Contacts

Conference: ICEC 2014 - The 27th International Conference on Electrical Contacts
06/22/2014 - 06/26/2014 at Dresden, Deutschland

Proceedings: ICEC 2014

Pages: 6Language: englishTyp: PDF

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Authors:
Lewis, Adam P.; Down, M. P.; Chianrabutra, C.; Jiang, L.; Spearing, S. M. (Electromechanical Engineering, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK,)
McBride, J. W. (Electromechanical Engineering, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK; University of Southampton Malaysia Campus, No. 3 Persiaran Canselor 1, Kota Ilmu, EduCity @ Iskandar, 79200, Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia,)

Abstract:
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have many advantages including: low power operation and small size. Compared with competitive technologies (such as PIN diodes and FETs) metal-contacting MEMS switches exhibit low onresistance, good isolation and excellent high frequency performance, making them attractive for RF applications, e.g. telecommunications. The lifetime of metal-contacting MEMS switches is limited due to electrical and mechanical interactions between the contacting surfaces. Contact degradation results in an increase in contact resistance and ultimately device failure. A potential solution to significantly increase device lifetime is to use Au/MWCNT composites for one or more of the electrical contacts. The compliance of the composite renders a larger contact area, and dissipates the impact energy from the contact force more effectively. In previous work, the advantages of Au/MWCNT composites for switching applications have been described. In this work we discuss the first implementation of a MEMS device utilising the Au/MWCNT composite technology. As well as demonstrating an application of the Au/MWCNT composite technology, the MEMS device serves as a platform which has been used to further investigate the failure mechanisms. The results are compared to an established methodology. A discussion on the effect of the effect of low contact forces (typical within MEMS) is given.