Adhesive Force Characterization for MEM Logic Relays With Sub-Micron Contacting Regions

Author

Yaung, Jack ; Hutin, Louis ; Jaeseok Jeon ; Tsu-Jae King Liu

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Univ. of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

Volume

23

Issue

1

fYear

2014

fDate

Feb. 2014

Firstpage

198

Lastpage

203

Abstract

Contact adhesive force (Fa) scaling is critical for relay miniaturization, since the actuation area and/or actuation voltage must be sufficiently large to overcome the spring restoring force (Fk) in order to turn on the relay and Fk must be larger than Fa in order to turn off the relay. In this work, contact adhesive force is investigated in MEM logic relays with contact dimple regions as small as 100 nm in lateral dimension. The results indicate that van der Waals force is predominant. An adhesive force of 0.02 nN/nm² is extracted for tungsten-to-tungsten contact. Fa reduction should be possible with contact dimple size reduction and contact surface coating.

Keywords

adhesion; coatings; electrical contacts; logic circuits; microrelays; van der Waals forces; MEM logic relays; adhesive force characterization; contact dimple region; contact dimple size reduction; contact surface coating; microelectromechanical relays; relay miniaturization; size 100 nm; spring restoring force; submicron contacting regions; van der Waals force; Electrodes; Force; Relays; Rough surfaces; Surface roughness; Surface topography; Surface treatment; MEM relay; adhesive force; pull-in mode; stiction;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JMEMS.2013.2269995

Filename

6558482