Electromagnetic actuation in MEMS switches

Power electronics takes use of switches in order to convert and manage energy. The ideal switch with low power loss consists of electromechanic relays, but since they are bulky and expensive, semiconductors switches are more widely used for power electronic applications, resulting in power losses during energy conversion.
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) consist of miniaturized mechanical and/or electro-mechanical elements fabricated using microfabrication techniques, and are good candidates for achieving a miniaturized electromechanic switch at the micro-scale with very little power loss.
Electromagnetic actuation is a very promising approach to operate such MEMS and Power MEMS devices, due to the long range, reproducible and strong forces generated by this method, among other advantages. However, the use of electromagnetic actuation in such devices requires the use of thick magnetic films, which constrains its integration through standard deposition methods.
Electroplating is a deposition technique which allows the deposition of thick films, and the integration of this technique to standard cleanroom fabrication is one of the focuses of this project, leading to large-scale fabrication of a new generation of reliable MEMS and power MEMS devices.
We have investigated deposition of these films via electroplating and its magnetic properties, along with the feasibility for integration into MEMS switches, and the results are presented in this work.