MECHANICAL CYCLING FOR ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCES OF MATERIALSUSED IN MEMS:APPLICATION TO GOLD MICRO-SWITCHES

摘要

A specific experimental setup, combining nanoindentation and electrical inputs, has been developed in order to determine the reliability and the performances of thin free-standing elements in Micro-ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS). The variations of the electrical resistance of micro-switches versus inputs like the load of contact are henceforth available. After the development of some theoretical aspects dealing with evaluations of the contact resistance and potential failure modes, the set-up is briefly described, and the experiments carried out on a gold/gold switch are discussed. The aim of this paper is also to provide a discussion leading to a better understanding of the deterioration of the materials of contact. Besides, comparisons between experimental data and predicted values by several models are investigated, leading to a global analysis of the studied switch.