A Laterally-Driven Bistable Electromagnetic Microrelay

In this letter, a laterally-driven bistable electromagnetic microrelay is designed, fabricated, and tested. The proposed microrelay consists of a pair of arch-shaped leaf springs, a shuttle, and a contact bar made from silicon, low temperature oxide (LTO), and gold composite materials. Silicon-on-insulator wafers are used for electrical isolation and releasing of the moving microstructures. The high-aspect-ratio microstructures are fabricated using a deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process. The tandem-typed leaf springs with a silicon/gold composite layer enhance the mechanical performances while reducing the electrical resistance. A permanent magnet is attached at the bottom of the silicon substrate, resulting in the generation of an external magnetic field in the direction vertical to the surface of the silicon substrate. The leaf springs show bistable characteristics. The resistance of the pair of leaf springs was $7.5\;{\Omega}$, and the contact resistance was $7.7\;{\Omega}$. The relay was operated at ${\pm}0.12\;V$.