Polycide contact interface to suppress squegging in micromechanical resoswitches

The use of a Pt-silicide-based contact interface has greatly reduced impact-induced energy loss in comb-driven resonant micromechanical switches (a.k.a., resoswitches) to the point where squegging phenomena (whereby impacts do not occur on every cycle) are eliminated, so no longer constrain the clock frequency of recently demonstrated mechanical charge pumps [1]. This opens the application range of such charge pumps to power converters capable of delivering currents much higher than the low current-draw MEMS dc-biasing applications targeted by [1]. The key to eliminating squegging in the present work is contact engineering, where softer contact materials, including Au, Ag, and Ni, steal too much energy on each impact; but harder contact materials, like Pt-silicide, allow more elastic impact while still maintaining low contact resistance due to the large impulsive force generated by impact - a distinct advantage of the resoswitch over conventional non-resonant counterparts.