Micromechanical switches fabricated using nickel surface micromachining

Micromechanical switches have been fabricated in electroplated nickel using a four-level surface micromachining process. The simplest devices are configured with three terminals, a source, a drain, and a gate and are 30 mu m wide, 1 mu m thick, and 65 mu m long. A voltage applied between the gate and source closes the switch, connecting the source to the drain. Devices switch more than 10(9) cycles before failure and exhibit long lifetimes hot switching currents up to 5 mA. The initial contact resistance is less than 50 m Ohm. The breakdown (stand-off) voltage between the source and the drain is greater than 100 V and the off-current is less than 20 fA at 100 V.