Design and Fabrication of A latching Silicon-based MEMS Switch

In this paper, a new electro-thermal MEMS switch is presented. The application of silicon-based resistive switch is mainly restricted by the two factors of high contact resistance and high power consumption. In the proposed switch, ion implantation technology is adopted to solve the problems of high contact resistance and electrical signal isolation simultaneously. In addition, the proposed switch can realize state self-locking through the motion design, that is, it can maintain OFF/ON state without any power supply. The power consumption of this switch is limited to state switching process. The fabrication of this device is compatible with traditional semiconductor technology and easy to be integrated with other devices. The test results show that the switch can achieve a displacement of more than 55 microns at 15 volts driving voltage, which meets the requirement of circuit closure and can realize state locking.