10-Amp Power-Mems Irreversible Toggle Switch with Drie-Etched Side-Wall Au Plating and Magnetic Actuation

We report a 10-Amp MEMS toggle power switch fabricated in 4"-Si-wafer standard micro-technology whereby the 500-μm-high sidewalls of the DRIE trenches serve as contact areas and are therefore coated with a 415-nm-thick TiCu sputtered seed layer, a 20-μm-thick electro-plated Cu layer, and an electro-less ENEPIG gold finish resulting in a low 3 mΩ switch resistance. The design of the nested switch is all mechanic with Si-springs providing 0.5 N contact force combined with a magnetic actuator releasing at 2 A coil current. The novel electronics-less power switch allows hot and cold switching for power lines, safety applications in battery driven vehicles such as automotive or mobile robotics or changeover from main to spare power supplies.