Comment on "Comparison of air breakdown and substrate injection as mechanisms to induce dielectric charging in microelectromechanical switches" [Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 043502 (2008)]
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Date
2009
Authors
Olszewski, Oskar Zbigniew
O'Mahony, Conor
Houlihan, Ruth
Duane, Russell
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AIP Publishing
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Abstract
The purpose of this comment is to provide additional insight into the reliability of microelectromechanical capacitive switches (MEMSs) investigated by Molinero and Casta er [Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 043502 (2008)]. We show that the presence or absence of ambient humidity determines whether the shift in the capacitance-voltage (C-V) curve of oxide-based MEMS occurs as a result of voltage stress. In humid air, negative and positive shifts in the C-V curve are observed after negative and positive bias stress. In dry air no such shifts in the C-V curve are seen. These shifts are similar to those reported on oxide-based switches by Molinero and Castaner [Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 043502 (2008)] where they show shifts occurring in room ambient pressure, but not in vacuum. This indicates that not only air pressure but also air humidity can be responsible for shifts in MEMS. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. (doi: 10.1063/1.3255008)
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Keywords
Water , Microelectromechanical systems , Dielectrics , Oxide surfaces , Charge injection , Electric measurements
Citation
Olszewski, Z., O’Mahony, C., Houlihan, R. and Duane, R. (2009) 'Comment on “Comparison of air breakdown and substrate injection as mechanisms to induce dielectric charging in microelectromechanical switches” [Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 043502 (2008)]', Applied Physics Letters, 95(17), pp. 176101.
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© 2009 American Institute of Physics.This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. The following article appeared in Olszewski, Z., O’Mahony, C., Houlihan, R. and Duane, R. (2009) 'Comment on “Comparison of air breakdown and substrate injection as mechanisms to induce dielectric charging in microelectromechanical switches” [Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 043502 (2008)]', Applied Physics Letters, 95(17), pp. 176101 and may be found at http://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.3255008