A novel MEMS inertial switch with frictional electrode

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a frictional MEMS inertial switch with aiming to solve the problems of short contact time and bounce. According to contact principle in MEMS inertial switch, a new enhanced contact method by friction is proposed and a frictional switch is designed. To compare the frictional switch with common rigid switch and flexible switch, three switches were fabricated by micro electroforming technology and tested by a standard dropping hammer system. The tested results show that the contact time of rigid switch, flexible switch and frictional switch is 13 μs, 85 μs and 620 μs, respectively. Both rigid switch and flexible switch have bounce problem, while frictional switch is closed stably without bounce phenomenon. Frictional MEMS inertial switch has great advantages in enhancing contact.