A contact-enhanced MEMS inertial switch with electrostatic force assistance and multi-step pulling action for prolonging contact time

摘要

A MEMS inertial switch with electrostatic force assistance and multi-step pulling action has been designed, fabricated and tested. The new design can help the electrodes weaken the bounce and keep a long contact before the leakage of electricity ends. Compared with the traditional inertial switch, the designed flexible connecting multi-plane moving electrode can realize the multi-step pulling action to reduce the pulling voltage and eliminate the rebounding phenomenon. The fixed electrode is designed as an array-type interconnection structure, which is fixed on the insulated glass substrate and mutually insulated with the pulling electrode by air. The dynamic switching and pulling performance under different boundary conditions are simulated by the COMSOL multi-physics field coupling commercial software, which confirms the designed inertial switch realize the expected functions. The fabricated inertial switch is tested by a standard dropping hammer system, which shows that the inertial switch with electrostatic force assistance has no bounce behavior, and similar to 540 mu s long stable contact time is obtained.