Improved Microcontact Test Fixture for Efficient Reliability and Performance Characterization

摘要

In Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches, the microcontact plays a crucial role in determining reliability and performance. Microcontact test fixtures facilitate to study micro contact surface physics, contact resistance, contact force, adhesion, and contamination research associated with microcontacts. Although AFM, SPM, and Nanoindentation based microcontact test setups are excellent at measuring adhesion, material transfer, contact resistance, and contact force, their performance is limited by low resonance beams and piezoelectric actuators. Moreover, these test stations are not optimized to simultaneously measure contact force and contact resistance in a unique ambient environment. To overcome these issues, Coutu et al. developed a novel microswitch lifecycle test fixture. In this work, we have proposed, designed, and simulated an microcontact support structure. We will fabricate the contacts using silicon on insulator (SOI) micromachining techniques which enable a very simple and efficient way of performing the postmortem analysis of microcontacts. The test fixture will be used to characterize the force/position and contact resistance/force performance parameters associated with wide range of contact materials and geometries that will facilitate designs for reliable, robust microswitches for future RF applications.