Design, fabrication, and characterization of electrostatic microrelays

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Abstract
This paper describes the development of electrostatically-actuated nickel microrelays. Device design is based on lateral comb-finger drives for actuation of the relay contact. The contact geometry is intended to reduce the 'ON' resistance and also prevent spontaneous closing of the relay. Planar microrelays, up to 15 micrometers thick, are batch fabricated using nickel surface micromachining which uses electroless plated nickel as the structural material, high-aspect- ratio positive resist lithography for the plating mold, and polysilicon as the sacrificial layer. The microfabricated relays were successfully actuated to investigate electrical contact attributes. Initial experiments reveal contact resistances to be around 15(Omega) and current densities up to 2mA/micrometers 2 without degradation.

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