MEMS ELECTROMAGNETIC MICRO RELAYS OVERVIEW AND DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Miniature electromagnetic relay matrices capable of switching currents up to one ampere range are widely used in commercial applications such as instrumentation and telecommunication. Traditionally these devices have been fabricated from a number of discrete components, however in recent years the emergence of Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) technology has opened up the possibility for batch fabrication of microrelays at much reduced unit cost. While several electromagnetic microrelay designs have been successfully developed and commercialized for use as individual units, development work on electromagnetic microrelay matrices where individual relays can be selectively switched on and off have been fewer and less successful. Due to inherent limitations of the micromachining processes, significant dimensional and material property variations occur among individual relays in a matrix. These variations severely limit the tolerance window and hence the reliability of operation of the device. After reviewing existing designs of electromagnetic microrelays, a set of desirable design features that would make the electromagnetic microrelay more robust are identified. A novel design incorporating these features is proposed and preliminary results of ANSYS(1) simulation studies are presented.