1. An Effect of a Needle Electrode for the Ohmic Contact Between an Electrode and Liquid Metal Droplet in Electrical Switching
- Author
-
Fuminari Mori, Akiya Hirata, Yugo Kakehi, and Satoshi Konishi
- Subjects
0303 health sciences ,Liquid metal ,Auxiliary electrode ,Materials science ,business.industry ,Oxide ,chemistry.chemical_element ,02 engineering and technology ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Galinstan ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,chemistry ,Electrode ,Optoelectronics ,Gallium ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Ohmic contact ,Layer (electronics) ,030304 developmental biology - Abstract
Liquid metal, such as Galinstan, is deformable and flows so that liquid metal is attractive for applications in MEMS. Gallium based liquid metal, however, forms an oxide layer on its surface. Consequently, it is not easy to provide the ohmic contact between a counter electrode and liquid metal. Reported thickness of the oxide layer is 0.7nm. This paper presents a needle electrode for the counter electrode penetrating the surface oxide layer of liquid metal droplet on the counter electrode. Au needle electrodes with approximately $150\ \mu\mathrm{m}$ of height have been fabricated using wire-bonding technology. The diameter of the needle is $25\ \mu \mathrm{m}$ . An effect of penetrating the oxide layer by the needle electrode has been confirmed. This paper reports switching of DC electrical signals as a promising application of the ohmic contact by liquid metal.
- Published
- 2020