Modeling, fabrication and demonstration of a rib-type cantilever switch with an extended gate electrode

Abstract

This paper presents the modeling, fabrication and measurement results of a rib-type cantilever switch with an extended gate electrode. In contrast to a conventional cantilever, it has a pull-in voltage that can be easily reduced and its dynamic bounce can be suppressed because the gate electrode is extended fully to the end of the beam. To investigate the static characteristics of the rib-type cantilever switch, the pull-in voltage is analytically compared to that of a conventional switch. We then numerically solve the dynamic Euler beam equation by introducing a new quasi-static contact model to predict the dynamic characteristics. Based on the modeling results, we successfully designed, fabricated and evaluated the rib-type cantilever switch. When the proposed cantilever switch was used with a newly optimized design of the bottom electrode, the pull-in voltage was reduced from 46.3 to 27.5 V (41% reduction). The dynamic response was measured both in air and low vacuum. The switching time was about 60% less than that of a conventional cantilever owing to the suppressed dynamic bounce. In addition, our measurements confirm that the proposed rib-type cantilever switch can endure over three times its pull-in voltage.