Microcontact Support Structure Fabrication to Study Microswitches Reliability and Performance Using a Novel Test Fixture

In microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) ohmic contact switches, microcontact surface tribology (e.g., contact material properties, contact resistance, contamination, adhesion, material transfer, etc.) and switching dynamics (e.g. contact force, contact closure time, contact bounce etc.) play a critical role in determining their reliability and performance. In this work, we fabricate a novel microcontact support structure (MSS) using Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) micromachining technique to facilitate the Holm crossbar measurements along with an improved post-mortem analysis. MSS is an assembly of an upper contact and lower contact support structure. A novel, fast, efficient, and automated test fixture has been designed and assembled to perform initial contact test (ICT), cold-switch test (CST), and hot-switch test (HST) on the MSS with a known force and current. The test fixture is placed on an active vibration isolation table and is enclosed in dry nitrogen (N2) box environment to minimize surface contamination. Future data collection with test fixture will provide significant information to design a robust and reliable MEMS switch for future 5G/6G and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.