Contact switch

• US 20110186407A1
• Filed: 01/20/2011
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ikeda, Koichi, Akiba, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 8,704,116 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 200/181
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 1/0036 Switches making use of microelectromechanical systems [MEMS] for electromagnetic relays H01H50/005; for electrostatic relays H01H59/0009
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 1/20 Bridging contacts for circuit breakers H01H73/045
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2001/0078 with parallel movement of the movable contact relative to the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2001/0084 with perpendicular movement of the movable contact relative to the substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2059/0072 with stoppers or protrusions for maintaining a gap, reducing the contact area or for preventing stiction between the movable and the fixed electrode in the attracted position
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 57/00 Electrostrictive relays; Piezoelectric relays
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 59/0009 making use of micromechanics

Abstract

There is provided a contact switch including: a plurality of first contact points arranged in parallel on a substrate; a movable member including a plurality of beams facing the plurality of first contact points, and formed to be slidable along an alignment direction of the first contact points within a face of the substrate; and a plurality of second contact points provided on faces of the beams, opposing the first contact points, respectively.

Claims

1. A contact switch comprising:

a plurality of first contact points arranged in parallel on a substrate;

a movable member including a plurality of beams facing the plurality of first contact points, and formed to be slidable along an alignment direction of the first contact points within a face of the substrate; and

a plurality of second contact points provided on faces of the beams, opposing the first contact points, respectively.

2. The contact switch according to claim 1, wherein

the movable member includes a support body extending along the alignment direction of the first contact points, and

the beam is projected from the support body along a direction orthogonal to the alignment direction within the substrate plane.

3. The contact switch according to claim 2, wherein an elastic modulus of the beam is set to be smaller than that of the support body in the movable member.

4. The contact switch according to claim 1, wherein

each first contact point includes a plurality of fixed contact electrodes, and

a movable contact electrode as the second contact point is provided to the plurality of fixed contact electrodes in each beam of the movable member.

5. The contact switch according to claim 1, wherein

each first contact point includes a plurality of fixed contact electrodes, and

a movable contact electrode as the second contact point is provided to each fixed contact electrode in each beam of the movable member.

6. The contact switch according to claim 5, wherein

the substrate includes a step between the plurality of fixed contact electrodes, and

a space between the fixed contact electrode and the movable contact electrode on a base side of the beam is wider than that between the fixed contact electrode and the movable contact electrode on an end side of the beam.

7. The contact switch according to claim 2, wherein

each first contact point includes a plurality of fixed contact electrodes,

a movable contact electrode as the second contact point is provided to each fixed contact electrode, and

the fixed contact electrodes, the movable contact electrode, and the beam are line-symmetrically arranged with an operation axis of the support body, serving as a symmetric axis.

8. The contact switch according to claim 1, further comprising:

on the substrate,

a signal line electrically connected to each of the plurality of first contact points to transmit a signal; and

a ground line arranged between each signal line.

9. The contact switch according to claim 1, further comprising:

a drive section switching the first contact point and the second contact point to either a contact state or a non-contact state by driving the movable member, wherein

the drive section includes a MEMS actuator.

10. The contact switch according to claim 9, wherein the MEMS actuator is configured as an electrostatic MEMS actuator by a lateral drive.