Mechanical Fatigue on Gold MEMS Devices: Experimental Results

TL;DR

This study investigates how mechanical fatigue affects gold MEMS devices by monitoring pull-in voltage changes during cyclic loading, identifying collapse points, and estimating fatigue limits using optical interferometry.

Contribution

It provides experimental data on fatigue-induced failure in gold MEMS devices and introduces a method to estimate fatigue limits via pull-in voltage measurements.

Findings

Mechanical collapse corresponds to a significant loss of mechanical strength.

Fatigue limit can be estimated using the stair-case method with pull-in voltage data.

Optical interferometry effectively measures pull-in voltage during cyclic tests.

Abstract

The effect of mechanical fatigue on structural performances of gold devices is investigated. The pull-in voltage of special testing micro-systems is monitored during the cyclical load application. The mechanical collapse is identified as a dramatic loss of mechanical strength of the specimen. The fatigue limit is estimated through the stair-case method by means of the pull-in voltage measurements. Measurements are performed by means of the optical interferometric technique.