NDLI: Electrostatically actuated metal-droplet microswitches integrated on CMOS chip

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Wenjiang Shen Edwards, R.T. Chang-Jin Kim
Copyright Year	1992
Abstract	The dominance of surface tension over inertia in microscale and favorable scale effect for electrostatic actuation allow electrostatically driven metal-droplet systems practical. Because of such potential advantages as low contact resistance, naturally bistable operation, and high switch density, the liquid-metal droplet switch is an excellent candidate for reconfigurable circuit interconnections. Following earlier droplet microswitch examples and related studies of metal-droplet behavior, we report the first functioning droplet switch directly integrated on top of a functional CMOS circuit. While the surface tension dominance makes the droplet switches practical as a mechanical system and also brings bistability, it also requires a high electric field to move the droplet. We implement the concept of physical surface modification to lower the driving voltage to a value that a commercial CMOS process can provide. Unlike previous droplet switches, the reported device is planar-processed to allow the integration with the underlying CMOS circuits. The integrated switch is made functional by such provisions as self-limiting actuation and by optimizing the electrostatic force in the planar configuration and avoiding liquid-metal "flooding" into surface patterns. A fabrication process for low driving voltage and high compatibility is developed to integrate the droplet switch on the custom-developed CMOS chip. A packaging method adapted from well-established microelectronic packaging isolates the active switch space from the surrounding environment. Low driving voltage (as low as 15 V) and millisecond switching speed are achieved by the current on-chip device. While the current device uses ~150 mum droplets for demonstration, additional theoretical and experimental results indicate that further miniaturization would lead to smaller devices and lower operation voltage
Sponsorship	IEEE Electron Devices Society American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME)
Starting Page	879
Ending Page	889
Page Count	11
File Size	2450174
File Format	PDF
ISSN	10577157
Volume Number	15
Issue Number	4
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2006-08-01
Publisher Place	U.S.A.
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Microswitches Switches Switching circuits Surface tension CMOS process Low voltage Packaging Electrostatic actuators Contact resistance Integrated circuit interconnections electrostatic actuation Droplet microswitch liquid-metal droplet mercury microswitch microswitch surface tension
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Mechanical Engineering Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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