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Electrostatic Comb-Drived Actuator for MEMS Relay/Switch

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Micro Electro Mechanical Systems

Part of the book series: Micro/Nano Technologies ((MNT,volume 2))

Abstract

A method of optimizing the shape of the driving electrode for switching application is proposed. This method increases the driving force, and decreases the driving voltage of the in-plane electrostatic MEMS switches as well. In this method, optimized comb shape is adopted so that better performance is obtained without the deterioration of other aspects of performance: the area of the device and the requirement of the process are similar to the traditional in-plane devices. Compared with the traditional comb tooth electrode, the experimental results show that the pull-down voltage of the optimized driving electrode is 39% lower than that of the traditional comb tooth electrode, and the driving performance is improved obviously. At a line width of 6 μm, a MEMS switch with a critical pull-down voltage of 14 V is implemented.

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Correspondence to Jiahao Zhao .

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© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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Zhao, J., Gao, Y. (2017). Electrostatic Comb-Drived Actuator for MEMS Relay/Switch. In: Huang, QA. (eds) Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. Micro/Nano Technologies, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2798-7_30-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2798-7_30-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2798-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2798-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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