Fabrication Process of Nonarcing Power MEMS Switch

Yu YONEZAWA
Noboru WAKATSUKI
Yoshio SATOH
Tadashi NAKATANI
Koichiro SAWA

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E88-C    No.8    pp.1629-1634
Publication Date: 2005/08/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 10.1093/ietele/e88-c.8.1629
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Recent Development of Electro-Mechanical Devices--Selected Papers from International Session on Electro-Mechanical Devices 2004 (IS-EMD2004)--)
Category: Relays and Switches
Keyword: 
arc discharge,  MEMS,  arc suppression,  contact device,  cantilever,  

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Summary: 
We proposed a new electric contact device that suppresses the arc phenomena. The functions of electric contacts are divided into energizing and switching for arc suppression. Switching contacts consist of multielectrodes and each electrode current is suppressed by the series resistance. For realization of multicontacting, cantilever beam array electrodes were formed on a silicon substrate using micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The finite element method was used to optimize the structure. The fabrication process of the cantilever was examined. Au-Au contact current of 0.97 A was broken without arc ignition.