Abstract
MEMS acceleration switches have been used in many engineering applications. In this paper, the reliability of MEMS switch is evaluated under various uncertainties from materials and manufacturing process. First, the performance of MEMS switch is modeled using 1D mass-spring-damper-contact system. Different from conventional lumped element methods, the model includes the effect of geometric parameters as well as contact conditions. The parameters of 1D models are calibrated using a high-fidelity finite element model. For reliability assessment, four different methods are used in order to compare computational cost as well as accuracy in predicting reliability. It turned out that sensitivity-based reliability method has several benefits, such as computational time and identifying important parameters that contribute significantly to reliability. The sensitivity analysis showed that the cross-sectional height and the length of folded-beam contribute most significantly to the reliability of switch-on condition. After changing the length of the beam, the probability of failure was improved from 0.168 to 0.0003.
Highlights
The concept of micro-machined threshold accelerometer sensor was introduced back in 1972 (Frobenius, Zeitman, White, O’Sullivan & Hamel, 1972), which was farfetched but well accepted
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of these tolerances on the performance of the switch and perform reliability analysis to calculate the probability of failure
1D mass-spring-damper-contact model of MEMS acceleration switch is proposed that can be used for reliability analysis caused by geometry tolerances and material variability
Summary
The concept of micro-machined threshold accelerometer sensor was introduced back in 1972 (Frobenius, Zeitman, White, O’Sullivan & Hamel, 1972), which was farfetched but well accepted. A variety of methods, such as carbon nanotube contact pads (Lee, Song, Jung, Choi, Eun & Kim, 2011; Lee, Eun, Jung, Choi & Kim, 2011), squeeze film effect (Matsunaga & Esashi, 2002) and movable contact pads (Cai, Ding, Yang, Su, Zhou & Wang, 2008), have been adopted in acceleration switches to increase the contact time or ‘switchON’ time; providing stability, reliability and easy detection of threshold acceleration These characteristics are crucial in many commercial applications like airbag restraint systems in transportation and fall detection in the medical industry.
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