Microrelays with bidirectional electrothermal electromagnetic actuators and liquid metal wetted contacts

作者：Cao Andrew^*; Yuen Phyllis; Lin Liwei

来源：Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 2007, 16(3): 700-708.

DOI：10.1109/JMEMS.2007.893520

• bidirectional actuators
• electromagnetic
• electrothermal
• liquid metal
• MetalMUMPs
• microrelays

Microrelays with liquid metal wetted contacts have been demonstrated using bidirectional electrothermal electromagnetic actuators. These relays were fabricated with the MetalMUMPs foundry process, which has a 20-mu m-thick nickel structural layer. The operating voltage is under 0.5 V. The measured breakdown voltage and OFF-state resistance are greater than 200 V and 100 M Omega, respectively, and the gold-to-gold contact resistance is around 0.3 Omega. When the contacts are wetted with liquid gallium alloy (melting point at -20 degrees Omega, the measured contact resistance can be as low as 0.015 Omega. As such, these bidirectional relays could have potential applications in high-power switching systems with low contact resistance using liquid metal wetted contacts.

• 出版日期2007-6