Design, fabrication and characterization of a latching acceleration switch with multi-contacts independent to the proof-mass

An acceleration latching switch with independent multi-contacts is presented in this paper. All the contacts and their beams are independent to the proof-mass so as to prevent the contacts from the impact resulting from the rebound or vibration of the proof-mass once the switch is latched. Moreover, multiple contacts are used in order to get highly reliable contact, to lower the contact resistance and to increase the maximum allowable current. The switch was fabricated by low-cost two-mask silicon on glass process and tested. The latching shock is 4500G and the response time is less than 0.1 ms. The contact resistance is no more than 5 Ω while the isolation resistance is more than 200 MΩ and the maximum allowable current is up to 100 mA.