Charging In MEMS Capacitive Switches Research Articles

Properties of contactless and contacted charging in MEMS capacitive switches

The dielectric charging in MEMS capacitive switches is a complex effect. The high electric field during pull-down causes intrinsic free charge migration and dipole orientation as well as charge injection. The macroscopic dipole moment of the first two mechanisms is opposite to the one arising from charge injection. This causes partial compensation hence mitigates the overall charging and increases the device lifetime. The charging due to intrinsic free charge migration and dipole orientation can be monitored under contactless electric field application in the pull-up state. The paper investigates the characteristics of contactless charging and compares them with the ones of contacted charging. The characteristics of the discharging process that follows each charging procedure are also presented.

Assessment of dielectric charging in micro-electro-mechanical system capacitive switches

The assessment of dielectric charging in MEMS capacitive switches is investigated. The information can be obtained only from simultaneous assessment of Metal-Insulator-Metal capacitance and MEMS capacitive switches the former allowing the determination of material properties and the latter of the device.