TY - JOUR
T1 - Critical process issues in the fabrication of a lateral, self-cleaning, MEMS switch
AU - Shi, Yong
AU - Kim, Sang Gook
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - A lateral contact MEMS switch was developed to address the needs for long life cycle, low contact resistance and low cost switches. The device is unique in its self-cleaning of particles, self-alignment of contact surfaces and the mechanical anchoring of the contact metal into the switch structures. The major issue for the lateral contact device fabrication is the creation of the vertical Au sidewall. Existing physical and chemical vapor deposition methods are found not satisfactory. The final Au sidewalls for electric contact are formed by electroplating in pre-patterned photoresist mold. SEM pictures show that the designed undulated contact surfaces are created successfully, and the surface of the electroplated Au is much smoother and denser than that by e-beam evaporation. The long lifecycle test shows that the contact resistance has been maintained below 0.1 Ω over 1010 cycles. The test results of the fabricated switch have proved the self-cleaning concept and opened the possibility of direct contact MEMS switch for high power and low cost RF applications.
AB - A lateral contact MEMS switch was developed to address the needs for long life cycle, low contact resistance and low cost switches. The device is unique in its self-cleaning of particles, self-alignment of contact surfaces and the mechanical anchoring of the contact metal into the switch structures. The major issue for the lateral contact device fabrication is the creation of the vertical Au sidewall. Existing physical and chemical vapor deposition methods are found not satisfactory. The final Au sidewalls for electric contact are formed by electroplating in pre-patterned photoresist mold. SEM pictures show that the designed undulated contact surfaces are created successfully, and the surface of the electroplated Au is much smoother and denser than that by e-beam evaporation. The long lifecycle test shows that the contact resistance has been maintained below 0.1 Ω over 1010 cycles. The test results of the fabricated switch have proved the self-cleaning concept and opened the possibility of direct contact MEMS switch for high power and low cost RF applications.
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U2 - 10.1557/proc-872-j19.3
DO - 10.1557/proc-872-j19.3
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:30644459002
SN - 0272-9172
VL - 872
SP - 463
EP - 468
JO - Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings
JF - Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings
M1 - J19.3
T2 - 2005 Materials Research Society Spring Meeting
Y2 - 28 March 2005 through 1 April 2005
ER -