IEICE Transactions on Electronics
Online ISSN : 1745-1353
Print ISSN : 0916-8524
- Selected Papers from International Session on Electro-Mechanical Devices 2014 (IS-EMD2014) and Other Recent Research Results -
The Wear of Hot Switching Au/Cr-Au/MWCNT Contact Pairs for MEMS Contacts
John W. McBRIDEHong LIUChamaporn CHIANRABUTRAAdam P. LEWIS
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2015 Volume E98.C Issue 9 Pages 912-918

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Abstract

A gold coated carbon nanotubes composite was used as a contact material in Micro-Electrical-Mechanical-System (MEMS) switches. The switching contact was tested under typical conditions of MEMS relay applications: load voltage of 4 V, contact force of 1 mN, and load current varied between 20-200 mA. This paper focuses on the wear process over switching lifetime, and the dependence of the wear area on the current is discussed. It was shown that the contact was going to fail when the wear area approached the whole contact area, at which point the contact resistance increased sharply to three times the nominal resistance.

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© 2015 The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers
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