Effect of nanoscale heating on electrical transport in RF MEMS switch contacts

This paper explores contact heating in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches with contact spot sizes less than 100 nm in diameter. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate that contact heating causes a drop in contact resistance. However, existing theory is shown to over-predict heating for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of microelectromechanical systems 2005-10, Vol.14 (5), p.935-946
Main Authors: Jensen, B.D., Chow, L.L.-W., Kuangwei Huang, Saitou, K., Volakis, J.L., Kurabayashi, K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Ballistic transport
Circuit properties
Contact resistance
Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits
Electrical contacts
Electronics
Electrons
Exact sciences and technology
Heating
Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy
Mathematical models
Mechanical instruments, equipment and techniques
Microelectromechanical systems
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
Micromechanical devices
Micromechanical devices and systems
Microswitches
Microwave circuits, microwave integrated circuits, microwave transmission lines, submillimeter wave circuits
Nanocomposites
Nanostructure
Physics
Predictive models
Radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems
Resistance heating
Switches
Transport
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Description
Summary:This paper explores contact heating in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches with contact spot sizes less than 100 nm in diameter. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate that contact heating causes a drop in contact resistance. However, existing theory is shown to over-predict heating for MEMS switch contacts because it does not consider ballistic transport of electrons in the contact. Therefore, we extend the theory and develop a predictive model that shows excellent agreement with the experimental results. It is also observed that mechanical cycling causes an increase in contact resistance. We identify this effect as related to the build-up of an insulating film and demonstrate operational conditions to prevent an increase in contact resistance. The improved understanding of contact behavior gained through our modeling and experiments allows switch performance to be improved.
ISSN:1057-7157
1941-0158
DOI:10.1109/JMEMS.2005.856653