Intermittent failure mechanism and stabilization of microscale electrical contact

Abstract The stability and lifetime of electrical contact pose a major challenge to the performance of microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS), such as MEMS switches. The microscopic failure mechanism of electrical contact still remains largely unclear. Here conductive atomic force microscopy with hot switching mode was adopted to simulate the asperity-level contact condition in a MEMS switch. Strong variation and fluctuation of current and adhesion force were observed during 10,000 repetitive cycles, exhibiting an “intermittent failure” characteristic. This fluctuation of electrical contact properties was attributed to insulative carbonaceous contaminants repetitively formed and removed at the contact spot, corresponding to degradation and reestablishment of electrical contact. When contaminant film was formed, the contact interface became “metal/carbonaceous adsorbates/metal” instead of direct metal/metal contact, leading to degradation of the electrical contact state. Furthermore, a system of iridium/graphene on ruthenium (Ir/GrRu) was proposed to avoid direct metal/metal contact, which stabilized the current fluctuation and decreased interfacial adhesion significantly. The existence of graphene enabled less adsorption of carbonaceous contaminants in ambient air and enhanced mechanical protection against the repetitive hot switching actions. This work opens an avenue for design and fabrication of microscale electrical contact system, especially by utilizing two-dimensional materials.