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| ECE graduate student Chirag Dipak Patel winner of the Rudee Outstanding Poster at Research Expo 2011 |
Poster title and abstract are below. Check back tomorrow for more info on his research.
130. HIGH-POWER, LARGE-FORCE, AND TEMPERATURE-STABLE METAL CONTACT SWITCHES
Student(s): Chirag Dipak Patel
Professor(s): Gabriel Rebeiz
This poster presents a novel electrostatic RF MEMS metal contact switch based on a tethered cantilever topology. The use of tethers results in a design that has low sensitivity to stress gradients, biaxial stresses, and temperature. A switch with a footprint of 160x190 um^2 and based on a 8-u m thick gold cantilever with an Au/Ru contact is implemented on a high-resistivity silicon substrate and results in a total contact force of 0.8-1.2 mN at 80-90 V, a restoring force of 0.5 mN, a pull-in voltage of 61 V, an up-state capacitance of 24 fF, and an actuation time of 6.4 u s. The device achieves a switch resistance of 2.4 +/-1.4 to 1.8+/- 0.6 ohms at 90-100 V in open laboratory environments (unpackaged). This design has the potential serve as a low-cost and high-reliability replacement for conventional electromagnetic relays in application areas such as automated testing equipment, high performance switching networks, medical devices, satellite systems, and defense.
The top posters by department are here.
