Electrical Contact Resistance Degradation of a Hot-Switched Simulated Metal MEMS Contact

Author

Dickrell, Daniel J., III ; Dugger, Michael T.

Author_Institution

Florida Univ., Gainesville, FL

Volume

30

Issue

1

fYear

2007

fDate

3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

75

Lastpage

80

Abstract

Electrical contact resistance testing was performed by hot-switching a simulated gold-platinum metal microelectromechanical systems contact. The experimental objective was to determine the sensitivity of the contact resistance degradation to current level and environment. The contact resistance increased sharply after 100hot-switched cycles in air. Hot-switching at a reduced current and in nitrogen atmosphere curtailed contact resistance degradation by several orders of magnitude. The mechanism responsible for the resistance degradation was found to be arc-induced decomposition of adsorbed surface contaminants

Keywords

contact resistance; electrical contacts; gold; micromechanical devices; nitrogen; platinum; surface contamination; Au-Pt; N; arc-induced decomposition; electrical contact resistance degradation; electrical contact resistance testing; gold-platinum metal microelectromechanical systems contact; hot-switching; metal MEMS contact; surface contaminants; Atmospheric modeling; Contact resistance; Degradation; Electric resistance; Microelectromechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Nitrogen; Performance evaluation; Surface resistance; System testing; Contact resistance; gold; microelectromechanical devices; platinum; surface contamination; switches;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Components and Packaging Technologies, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1521-3331

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TCAPT.2007.892074

Filename

4135390