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High‐power MEMS switch enabled by carbon‐nanotube contact and shape‐memory‐alloy actuator
Author(s) -
Dahmardeh Masoud,
Mohamed Ali Mohamed Sultan,
Saleh Tanveer,
Hian Tee Min,
Moghaddam Mehran Vahdani,
Nojeh Alireza,
Takahata Kenichi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201228678
Subject(s) - materials science , microelectromechanical systems , sma* , actuator , contact resistance , shape memory alloy , carbon nanotube , cantilever , electrical contacts , optoelectronics , electrode , nanotechnology , electrical engineering , composite material , computer science , engineering , chemistry , algorithm , layer (electronics)
Abstract A forest of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is integrated as an electrical contact material with a high‐power, normally‐open switch based on micro‐electro‐mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. A shape‐memory‐alloy (SMA) cantilever is thermally actuated to enable switching between the movable CNT forest and the copper electrode formed on the SMA. The out‐of‐plane SMA actuator provides high forces to enable distributed contacts with the CNT forest, achieving low contact resistances and high ON/OFF resistance ratios. The ON state of the switch shows contact resistances as low as 35 Ω with a dependence on the operating current. The device operation is performed with over 5‐W input powers. Long‐term operation with more than 1 × 10 6 switching cycles is demonstrated. The results indicate that a combination of the CNT‐based contact and the SMA actuator may be a promising path to realizing reliable MEMS contact switches for high‐power applications.