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Comparative study of RF MEMS micro-contact materials

Broué, Adrien ; Dhennin, Jérémie ; Charvet, Pierre-Louis ; Pons, Patrick ; Ben Jemaa, Nourredine ; Heeb, Peter ; Coccetti, Fabio ; Plana, Robert

In: International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, 2012, vol. 4, no. 4, p. 413-420

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    Titre
    • Comparative study of RF MEMS micro-contact materials
    Auteur
    • Broué, Adrien. NOVAMEMS, 10 avenue de l'Europe, 31520 Ramonville Saint Agne, France. Phone: +33 561274688.
    • Dhennin, Jérémie. NOVAMEMS, 10 avenue de l'Europe, 31520 Ramonville Saint Agne, France. Phone: +33 561274688.
    • Charvet, Pierre-Louis. CEA-LETI, MINATEC, 3 parvis Louis Néel, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
    • Pons, Patrick. LAAS-CNRS, 7 avenue du colonel Roche, 31077 Toulouse, France.
    • Ben Jemaa, Nourredine. IPR-Université de Rennes, CNRS 6251, 263 av. Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France.
    • Heeb, Peter. NTB Interstate University of Applied Sciences of Technology, Werdenbergstrasse 4, Buchs CH-9471, Switzerland.
    • Coccetti, Fabio. NOVAMEMS, 10 avenue de l'Europe, 31520 Ramonville Saint Agne, France. Phone: +33 561274688.
    • Plana, Robert. LAAS-CNRS, 7 avenue du colonel Roche, 31077 Toulouse, France.
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies, 2012, vol. 4, no. 4, p. 413-420. Cambridge University Press
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:304963
    Summary
    A systematic comparison between several pairs of contact materials based on an innovative methodology early developed at NOVA MEMS is hereby presented. The technique exploits a commercial nanoindenter coupled with electrical measurements, and test vehicles specially designed to investigate the underlying physics driving the surface-related failure modes. The study provides a comprehensive understanding of micro-contact behavior with respect to the impact of low-to-medium levels of electrical current. The decrease of the contact resistance, when the contact force increases, is measured for contact pairs of soft material (Au/Au contact), harder materials (Ru/Ru and Rh/Rh contacts), and mixed configuration (Au/Ru and Au/Ni contacts). The contact temperatures have been calculated and compared with the theoretical values of softening temperature for each couple of contact materials. No softening behavior has been observed for mixed contact at the theoretical softening temperature of both materials. The enhanced resilience of the bimetallic contacts Au/Ru and Au/Ni is demonstrated