Fabrication and packaging of an inertia electrical micro-switch using low temperature metal-electroplating technology

Presented in this paper is a separate and non-interfering photoresist-molded, metal-electroplating technology for the low-temperature fabrication and packaging of inertia electrical micro-switch. The low temperature process of the electroplating technology allows eventual modular integration and wafer-level packaging of the micro-switches on active substrates containing pre-fabricated electronic signal-processing circuits. The height of the inertia micro-switch and that of its cavity are independently controlled. Metal leads are provided for electrical access to the sealed cavities. The switches are designed using a simple but accurate lumped spring-mass model. Un-encapsulated switches making over 100 million contacts are demonstrated in room ambient. Both the strength and the hermeticity of the sealed cavity are tested and reported.