Integration of a Compliant Thermal Actuator for Unlatching in a Mems Latch Accelerometer

We report the realization of a reusable MEMS g-switch (a latch accelerometer) integrated with a compliant thermal actuator for unlatching. The novelty here is in the tight integration of the unlatching actuator that uses the same latching beams used as electrodes for threshold g-sensing, thus introducing minimal additional components. Optimization on the device parameters is performed on an existing model of electro-thermal actuators to have a required deflection while maintaining a minimum temperature profile in the hot arm of the actuator beam. We show that the required tip displacement for unlatching is easily achieved. The results suggest that the integrated actuator is a feasible candidate for resetting MEMS latch switches.