Surface characterization of a Au/CNT composite for a MEMS switching application

• Main Authors: Hong, Liu, Mcbride, J. W., Mohd. Yusop, Mohd. Zamri
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Published: IEEE 2016
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/66680/; http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/NANO.2016.7751537
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been used to improve the lifetime of electrical contacts of MEMS switches. The surface, usually gold-coated, demonstrates a complex structure. Due to the space between vertically aligned nanotubes, the sputtered gold penetrates into CNT. The surface of the composite also presents a much higher roughness than metal-coated surfaces. This work investigates the surface features of the gold-coated MWCNT composite, as well as the gold penetration into MWCNT. Different techniques are used in the study, namely TEM, SEM, AFM and optical surface profiler.