Compact thermally actuated latching MEMS
switch with large contact force
D. Dellaert and J. Doutreloigne
A novel latching microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switch is
reported, which uses a compact configuration of thermal actuators. In
the proposed latching mechanism, the necessary displacement of one
of the contacts can be reduced, allowing the use of a linear thermal
actuator. This linear actuator together with a V-shaped actuator can
be aligned next to each other, requiring less area than the classical
latching switch design. Another advantage of the proposed design is
the high contact force of 1.33 mN, ensuring a stable contact resistance.
The latching switch was fabricated in the Metal multi-user MEMS pro-
cesses (MUMPs) technology and its functionality was successfully
tested. In the latched state, a switch resistance of 0.6 Ω was measured.
Introduction: Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switches provide
very low on-resistance and very high off-resistance, which make them
almost ideal switches. To obtain a reliable low-ohmic contact, enough
contact force must be applied, which puts a restriction on the type and
size of the actuator being used. Even if the contact force is determined
by the stiffness of a member in the device, high actuation forces are
needed to displace this stiff member.
Most MEMS actuators operate by electrostatic [1], electrothermal
[2–4], electromagnetic [5] or piezoelectric actuation. Electrostatic actu-
ators generally require large compliant structures and can only deliver a
limited amount of force. Electromagnetic actuators usually need a per-
manent magnet to operate or require non-standard materials.
Moreover, piezoelectric actuators need materials which are not always
available. Electrothermal actuators, on the other hand, are easy to fabri-
cate and provide large displacements and forces. A disadvantage is the
relatively high power usage to drive these actuators.
To reduce the power usage of thermally actuated switches, bistable
[6, 7] or latching [2–4, 8, 9] mechanisms have been designed. In a
bistable mechanism, high forces are needed to snap to the second stable
state, and once in that state little force is available for pressing the contacts
against each other. Therefore, it is easier to obtain large contact forces
with thermally actuated latching mechanisms.
In a latching mechanism, two independent perpendicular displace-
ments are needed for latching or unlatching. In most cases, these dis-
placements are generated by two relatively long perpendicular
actuators. As the thermal expansion of the active member in a thermal
actuator is very small, a displacement amplification mechanism is
usually needed. This amplification can be obtained using a V-shaped
(chevron) actuator [4, 10] or a heatuator-like actuator [2, 3, 11], for
example. Both types of actuators are relatively long and using them in
a latching switch generally results in a large L-shaped switch taking
up a lot of chip area (Fig. 1a).
F1
F1
F2 F2
a b
Fig. 1 Principle of classical latching switch and proposed compact latching
switch
a Classical latching switch
b Proposed compact latching switch
In the classical latching switch (Fig. 1a), the first actuator (indicated
by F1) needs to generate a displacement such that the corresponding
contact tip moves over at least the contact overlap. Next, the second
actuator (F2) must move the second contact tip over at least the
contact spacing and twice the contact width. After the release of the
first and the second actuators, the contacts are pressed against each
other with a force given by the stiffness of the second actuator and
the corresponding signal beam. In most cases, this contact force
cannot be made very large as the second actuator and the corresponding
ELECTRONICS LETTERS 8th January 2015 Vol. 51 No. 1 pp. 80–81
beam should be compliant as these usually have to displace over the
largest distance.
In this Letter, a novel latching switch is presented which is more
compact than the classical latching switch and in which larger contact
forces appear. In the proposed latching mechanism (Fig. 1b), the first
actuator (F1) moves the lower contact over a small displacement Δ
using a short lever. This small displacement allows the second contact
to move down till it aligns with the first one. After the release of the
first and the second actuator, the contacts are pressed against each
other with a large force, keeping the switch in its latched state. The
contact force in this novel design is much larger compared to the clas-
sical design because little displacement amplification is needed to
move the first contact over a distance Δ. Therefore, the lever at the
right side can be relatively short and large forces are available at the
contact. As the first actuator needs to generate only small displacements
but at a large force, a linear thermal actuator type was chosen (see
Fig. 2). In this actuator, a U-shaped structure expands due to the electri-
cal current flowing through the structure. The proposed configuration
trades two moderate displacements, for a larger and a smaller displace-
ment, resulting in increased contact force and reduced chip area.
anchor A’ linear actuator nitride B’ C’
V2
Vact1
gnd
Vact2
V1
A V-shaped actuator trench B C contacts
A A’ B B’ C C’
Fig. 2 Schematic top view and cross-sections of proposed latching switch
In the following sections, the design and fabrication in the Metal
multi-user MEMS processes (MUMPs) technology [12] will be
described and experimental results showing the latching behaviour
will be presented.
Design and fabrication of latching switch: In the proposed latching
switch, two perpendicular motions are generated while the two actuators
are oriented in the same direction. This is possible as the first contact
only needs a small displacement (∼10 μm). The linear thermal actuator
used for this displacement consists out of two 1500 μm-long beams with
a width of 15 μm, and is driven by applying current at pads Vact1 and
gnd. Using the lever at the right side, the displacement of this actuator
is amplified by a factor of 3.3 to obtain enough displacement for the
lower contact.
As the second contact has to move over 57 μm, a lever was also used
here to amplify the displacement of the V-shaped actuator. This
V-shaped actuator has a length of 1380 μm, a width of 10 μm, an
apex of 20 μm and is driven by applying current at pads Vact2 and gnd.
In the latched state, the simulated contact force amounts to 1.33 mN,
which is high compared to the size of the device. This large contact
force is the result of the small amplification of the bare thermal expansion.
The horizontal signal beam connected to the V-shaped actuator is compli-
ant in the y-direction to obtain large displacements, but is relatively stiff in
the x-direction, which is ideal to obtain high contact forces. This is in con-
trast to the classical latching switch, in which the second actuator and the
corresponding beam should be compliant to obtain the large displacement,
but should also be relatively stiff to obtain a high contact force.
The device was fabricated in the Metal MUMPs technology, in which
the structural layer consists of 20 μm-thick electroplated nickel. In this
technology, it is possible to pattern the silicon nitride layer and to etch
a trench into the substrate (see Fig. 2). This results in released parts of
silicon nitride, anchored to the nickel structural layer. Using this tech-
nique, mechanical connections with electrical isolation can be designed,
which can be used to isolate the signal path from the drive currents for the
actuators. Additionally, the etched trench underneath the structure
improves the actuator performance by reducing the heat loss to the sub-
strate. The technology also allows plating the sidewalls of the structural
layer with gold, in order to lower the contact resistance of the switch.
The complete switch measures 2020 × 330 μm, but multiple devices
can be stacked next to each other with a pitch of 300 μm.
 In the design, care has been taken regarding the location of the contact
pads. The pad for the linear actuator (Vact1), the pad for the V-shaped
actuator (Vact2) and the shared ground pad (gnd) are all located on the
left side and could be wire bonded if this was the edge of the die.
When placing different latching switches next to each other on both
sides of a common output rail, multiple input pads (V1) can be connected
to that shared output rail (V2) running along all the switches. This facili-
tates the design of a latching switch matrix, needing only connections at
the edge of the die.
Experimental results: The fabricated device (Fig. 3a) was connected
using a probe station and the actuators were driven by two Keithley
2401 source measure units. Driving the linear actuator with a current
of 225 mA generates a displacement of 3.4 μm, which results in a
contact displacement of 11.2 μm. The V-shaped actuator was driven
with a current of 215 mA, generating 19.6 μm of motion and a contact
displacement of 56.5 μm. By sequentially driving the first actuator,
then the second, followed by the release of the first and then the
second, the switch was able to latch into a stable closed state (Fig. 3b).
Fig. 4 shows the contacts in more detail during the latching sequence.
200 mm
a References
200 mm
b 2 Dellaert, D., and Doutreloigne, J.: ‘Design and characterization of a
Fig. 3 Latching switch in fabricated state and in latched state
a Fabricated state
b Latched state
100 mm 100 mm 100 mm
a b c 6 Qiu, J., Lang, J., and Slocum, A.: ‘A curved-beam bistable mechanism’,
100 mm 100 mm
d e
Fig. 4 Detailed view of contacts during latching sequence
a Fabricated state
b Driving linear actuator
c Driving V-shaped actuator
d Release of linear actuator
e Release of V-shaped actuator
In the closed state, the switch exhibited a pad-to-pad resistance of
0.605 Ω, measured at 10 mA with a 4-wire Kelvin method. This low
switch resistance is the result of the metallic structural layer and the side-
wall gold plating at the contacts. As the simulated switch resistance
amounts to 0.524 Ω, the largest part of the switch resistance is due to
the structure itself, with only a very small contact resistance. This low
contact resistance is due to the high contact force.
ELECTRONICS LETTERS
Conclusion: A novel thermally actuated latching switch has been pro-
posed and its functionality has been demonstrated. By adopting a differ-
ent latching mechanism, the necessary displacement of one of the
actuators could be decreased, allowing the use of a linear thermal actu-
ator. The proposed latching mechanism combined with the linear actua-
tor and the V-shaped actuator results in a compact switch, which takes
up less area than the classical latching switch, which has an L-shaped
configuration. The use of the linear actuator also results in a very high
contact force of 1.33 mN. The switch was successfully fabricated in
the Metal MUMPs technology and was able to latch into the closed
state. Owing to the nickel structural layer and the sidewall gold
plating of the contacts, the switch exhibited an on-resistance of 0.6 Ω.
Acknowledgment: D. Dellaert is supported by the Special Research
Fund (BOF) of Ghent University.
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2015
9 September 2014
doi: 10.1049/el.2014.3234
One or more of the Figures in this Letter are available in colour online.
D. Dellaert and J. Doutreloigne (Centre for Microsystems Technology,
Ghent University/IMEC, Technologiepark 914a, 9052 Ghent, Belgium)
E-mail: dries.dellaert@elis.ugent.be
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