EP1246215B1 - Microrelay with new construction - Google Patents

Abstract

A drive capacitor (4,5) drives a movable contact piece (MCP) (1) electrostatically and has two conductive surfaces set apart but parallel. One (4) of these surfaces is applied to one side of the MCP with a flexible suspension (2). Altering the charging status of the drive capacitor moves the MCP into and out of a structure on a mating contact piece (6,7) in order to open and close an electrical contact between the MCP and the mating contact piece.

Description

Technical area

The invention relates to a micro-relay according to the preamble of claim 1. A micro-relay is a microscopic electrical switch in which a movable contact piece is moved electrostatically, electromagnetically, piezoelectrically or otherwise relative to a mating contact to make electrical contact open and close. Micro relays are so to speak, very small relays, as is clear from the name, and are often, but not necessarily, made with the aid of technological processes that are borrowed from semiconductor technology and / or microstructure technology.

State of the art

Micro-relays with electrostatic drives are known per se. The electrostatic drive is effected by a drive capacitor having two spaced conductive surfaces, one of which is fixedly connected to the movable contact piece. As a result, the electrostatic forces generated when creating a supply voltage between the surfaces can be used for the mechanical drive of the movable contact piece. The movable contact piece is usually elastically suspended, so that the electrostatic drive acts against a restoring force of the elastic suspension.

In some known micro-relays, the movable contact piece consists of a lamella protruding obliquely from a substrate surface, which at the same time contains one of the drive capacitor surfaces, wherein the other drive capacitor surface and the mating contact piece are arranged in the substrate plane. The electrostatic attraction between the driving capacitor surfaces may pull the blade down onto the substrate surface, whereupon contact on the blade-like movable contact contacts the mating contact in the substrate surface.

A three-dimensional, electrostatic drive for a microstructure is in Fig. 4 from EP 1 020 984 A2 described. This drive has a fixed base 41 and an arrow 42 movable actuator 42, which is held with four leaf springs 44 at four attachment points 45 and is driven by the electrostatic forces of a comb structure with finger electrodes 43, 46 having capacitor. Since each two of the four leaf springs engage on opposite sides of the actuator 42, the actuator 42 moves only perpendicular to the surfaces of the finger electrodes and the distance between the finger electrodes 43 and 46 remains constant during this movement. However, the distance traveled in the movement is only small.

Presentation of the invention

The invention, as indicated in the claims, the object is to provide a micro-relay of the type mentioned, which allows relatively low supply voltages to overcome a large isolation distance between the contact pieces.

In the micro relay according to the invention, the movable contact piece is suspended such that the direction of movement to the direction of the distance between the drive capacitor surfaces is almost vertical, the largest occurring in operation distance of the drive capacitor surfaces is much smaller than that covered in operation by the movable contact piece movement distance in the direction of movement, and the elastic suspension has a spring constant, which is substantially smaller than a spring constant of the elastic suspension with respect to a movement in the direction of the distance of the drive capacitor surfaces, with respect to a movement of the movable contact piece in the movement direction.

The basic idea of the invention is thus to depart from the conventional concept, in which the direction of movement of the movable contact piece is essentially the same or parallel to the electrostatic force. Rather, according to the invention, a structure is chosen in which the movable contact piece is elastically suspended so that it is a transverse elastic with respect to the direction of the electrostatic force, ie to the direct distance between the drive capacitor surfaces corresponding direction. In this transverse elasticity, however, a small component in the direction of force must be present, so that the drive capacitor surfaces are approximated or removed from each other. It is essential, however, that the vast majority of the movement of the movable contact piece is perpendicular to the electrostatic force, so the capacitor gap. Quantitatively, this may mean that the transverse component in the movements is preferably at least 5 times, more preferably 7.5 times, more preferably 12 times and in the best case even more than 20 times the force-parallel component. This is inventively achieved in that the elastic suspension in the desired direction of movement has a much smaller spring constant than in the (conventional) direction of the distance between the drive capacitor surfaces.

The advantages of this structure can be varied: Firstly, in some applications it can lead to more favorable geometric solutions to be able to arrange the drive capacitor surfaces substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the movable contact piece. The invention thus provides a new degree of freedom for the design of micro-relays.

An essential, but according to the invention not necessarily standing in the foreground advantage is that relatively large quantitative relationships between the possible path of movement of the movable contact piece on the one hand and the. By the relatively small component of the movements of the movable contact piece in the direction of the distance of the drive capacitor surfaces with the micro-relay can be achieved on the other hand maximum occurring spacing between the drive capacitor surfaces. According to a preferred aspect of the invention, these quantitative ratios should be as large as possible, preferably over 10, better over 20 and best over 40. This has the consequence that on the one hand with sufficiently small supply voltages sufficiently large electrostatic forces between the drive capacitor surfaces can be generated on the other hand, the isolation distances between the movable contact piece and the mating contact piece, which must indeed be overcome by the movable contact piece in the movement, can still be relatively large. The micro-relays according to the invention can therefore combine a high withstand voltage with a small drive voltage.

This overcomes a major drawback of electrostatic micro-relays which, although conventionally already allow relatively low supply voltages or power, but are limited in terms of dielectric strength in that the drive capacitor is also at the largest occurring distance between the drive capacitor surfaces must still be able to muster a sufficiently large attractive force.

Moreover, with the conventional electrostatic micro-relay compared to the electromagnetic drive solutions only very small pressure forces between the contacts, ie between the movable contact piece and the mating contact piece, are applied. These relatively low contact forces can cause difficulties in the manufacture of the contacts and undesirably high contact resistance. Again, the invention offers a remedy.

It is recommended to attach the elastic suspension on the side of the movable contact piece on which the electrically conductive surface is provided, since then a particularly favorable power distribution is achieved. The initial force when applying a voltage is namely given by the production-related distance of the capacitor surfaces. In the above-mentioned one-sided suspension, the distance of the plates decreases with increasing movement of the movable contact piece. As a result, the driving force is always larger and reaches a maximum when the movable contact piece reaches an end position in which the contacts are closed. In the switch-on position, the microrelay according to the invention then has a desirably high contact closure force. Characterized in that the movable contact piece is moved a little in the direction of the capacitor surfaces, distances of less than 100 nm can be achieved in the switch-on. At these distances, which are otherwise very difficult to realize, extremely large forces already act at low voltages.

The same effect is achieved when one or two carriers of the elastic suspension are / is attached to a side of the movable contact piece which faces away from the side carrying the electrically conductive surface, and when the carrier (s) can easily curve along its length and be stretched by the drive capacitor during movement of the movable contact piece (1).

A favorable embodiment for an elastic suspension with the described properties consists of at least one narrow long carrier whose longitudinal direction corresponds to the direction of the distance of the drive capacitor surfaces and which is much narrower in the direction of movement of the movable contact piece. In the third remaining direction, the carrier may be relatively extended or relatively flat, preferably matched to the corresponding dimensions of the drive capacitor and the remaining components in that direction. This carrier forms a leaf spring-like structure and can not be extended and shortened by the electrostatic force of the drive capacitor, but laterally deformed.

Preferably, at least two of these carriers are provided, which are preferably substantially identical to each other, but spaced apart in the direction of movement. By their common fixed coupling with the movable contact piece then results in a movement of the movable contact piece, which remains tilt-free, that consists essentially only of translational components. Reference is made to the exemplary embodiments. The force-displacement relationships, ie the spring constants, can be easily calculated in such carriers using known approximation formulas.

The movement of the movable contact piece can be used not only to bring a contact attached to the movable contact piece with an associated contact on a mating contact piece and to separate it, but the same movement can simultaneously a further contact of the movable contact piece with a connect and disconnect the other contact on another mating contact piece in a complementary manner. In this case, therefore, the movable contact piece between the mating contact pieces is reciprocated. In a sense, a double switch is obtained which, moreover, offers in a middle position a state in which all the contacts are disconnected. However, it can also be designed or operated so that it is switched between two states, in each of which one of the two contact pairs is open and the other is closed. The various advantageous applications of such double switches are well known to those skilled in the art.

Incidentally, the carrier or carriers described need not necessarily be elongated in the force-free state, so that they are bent by the electrostatic drive. You can also be provided in the production of the micro-relay already with a predetermined slight curvature, which can then be reduced by the electrostatic drive force, repealed or reversed in the direction sense.

Furthermore, it is conceivable to carry out the drive capacitor more complicated than merely with two adjacent drive capacitor surfaces. Nested structures may also be used in which a larger number of drive capacitor surfaces are interleaved, such as two combs engaged with each other. For the sake of illustration, reference is made to the corresponding exemplary embodiment.

The direction of movement of the micro-relay according to the invention is preferably parallel to a substrate on which the micro-relay is mounted or on which it has preferably been produced integrated. Here too, there is a difference from the prior art, in which the directions of movement more or less perpendicular to the substrate plane. However, the substrate-parallel direction of movement has the advantage of favoring two-dimensional structures of the microrelay, which are very advantageous in terms of production technology. Thus, the typical microtechnological and semiconductor technology methods such as lithography, etching or coating methods are usually initially two-dimensional and in three-dimensional structures to realize only slightly increased effort. Accordingly, the individual functional parts of the micro-relay, namely the movable contact piece, the elastic suspension and the drive capacitor, each in their functional structure, preferably purely two-dimensional, in a substrate-parallel plane.

Furthermore, a flat structure which is possible due to the substrate-parallel movement is frequently favorable in terms of construction and in particular facilitates subsequent lithography steps, for example those which are required for microelectronic circuits to be produced on the same substrate. Even with a protection of the micro-relay by an encapsulation or cover a flat structure is advantageous.

In order to detach the movable parts of the micro-relay from the substrate in an integrated embodiment, it is advisable to provide and remove buried layers at the suitable locations in order to free these parts from the substrate and thus make them elastically deformable or movable. In particular, SiO ₂ layers are suitable for silicon substrates. In particular, the well-known SOI structures (Silicon on Insulator) are suitable for this purpose, especially the so-called SIMOX wafers.

The material silicon is basically a preferred material for the microrelay according to the invention.

Another material solution are different glasses. However, silicon has the advantage of being able to be carried out by suitable sorting both insulating and electrically conductive. By ion implantation or diffusion of dopants can thus be easily made conductor tracks with an adapted structure. The underlying technology is known from semiconductor device fabrication.

Nevertheless, for example, metallizations will be necessary for the contacts themselves. In the case of a glass microrelay, metallizations must always be applied in order to produce the electrical leads and contacts.

Particular importance for the production of the micro-relay according to the invention, in particular in a two-dimensional realization with substrate-parallel alignment, have the ion etching, in particular the so-called RIE process. Since relatively large etch depths may be of interest for the microrelay, preference is given to the so-called DRIE processes (deep reactive ion etching). By means of suitable process control, it is possible to achieve almost vertical etching edges at considerable depths, for example in the order of magnitude of 0.5 mm. This can be important for achieving sufficiently large contact areas, because in the preferred embodiments of the invention, contact surfaces perpendicular to the substrate can result. For this purpose, reference is again made to the exemplary embodiments.

As an example, reference is made to the article " Vertical Mirrors Fabricated by Deep Reactive Ion Etching for Fiber Optic Switching Applications ", by C. Marxer at all, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, Volume 6, No. 3, September 1997, pages 277-285 , Although micro-optical switches for fiber-optic applications are described there, the process steps can also be readily applied to the invention. The realized there Wall heights of 75 microns can be easily surpassed if that is of interest.

Brief description of the drawings

In the following, embodiments of the invention are explained, wherein the features disclosed may also be essential to the invention in other than the combinations shown.

• Figur 1 eine schematische Draufsicht auf ein erfindungsgemäßes bewegbares Kontaktstück mit elastischer Aufhängung;
• Figur 2 ein erstes Ausführungsbeispiel für ein erfindungsgemäßes Mikrorelais;
• Figur 3 ein zweites Ausführungsbeispiel für ein erfindungsgemäßes Mikrorelais;
• und Figur 4 ein drittes Ausführungsbeispiel für ein erfindungsgemäßes Mikrorelais.

In detail shows:

• FIG. 1 a schematic plan view of an inventive movable contact piece with elastic suspension;
• FIG. 2 a first embodiment of a micro-relay according to the invention;
• FIG. 3 a second embodiment of a micro-relay according to the invention;
• and FIG. 4 A third embodiment of a microrelay according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a structure of a movable contact piece 1 with elastic suspension 2. The viewing direction is perpendicular to the substrate plane, which should be a two-dimensional structure. The schematically drawn base 3 should, as indicated by the hatched background, be firmly connected to the substrate, whereas the elastic suspension forming carrier 2 and the movable contact piece 1 are free from the substrate. In the specific example, the parts 1, 2 and 3 are made of Si and integrated from a Si substrate be worked out. The movable contact piece 1 and the carriers 2 have been freed from the substrate by dissolving an SiO ₂ layer buried underneath.

The solid lines represent the force-free arrangement, while the dashed lines show the movable contact piece 1 and the elastic suspension 2 in the deflected state. This deflection is caused by a force symbolized with N, which in FIG. 1 acts from top to bottom, that is, in the substrate plane, but is the direction of movement seen by the difference between the dashed and the solid drawing substantially perpendicular. Incidentally, the direction of movement is not really a constant direction. Rather, it is clear from this figure that the direction of movement with increasing deflection away from the orthogonal orientation to the normal force. It is essential, however, that the movement path contains a much larger component f perpendicular to the force N than the force-parallel component λ. However, the component λ is important insofar as it is necessary in order to be able to generate the illustrated movement with the force N at all.

The movement behavior of the movable contact piece 1 results from the shape and arrangement of the pair of supports 2 and these are spaced apart in the direction of movement and otherwise identical and aligned to the force N substantially symmetrical, in order to avoid torques as possible. The carriers 2 have a length I in the direction of the force N and, in contrast, are very narrow, as indicated by h. The depth perpendicular to the plane is denoted by b and here corresponds to the depth of the movable contact piece 1. It is for the inventive principle no longer of concern. As will be seen below, although it increases the spring constant linearly, in the embodiments, the area of the driving capacitor also increases linearly with the depth, so that the depth b only depends on the technical limits of the etching process and the desired contact surface. However, too great a width of the capacitor 4,5 not only increases the mass inertia of the movable contact part 1, but also goes directly into the overall size of the micro-relay. So here a meaningful compromise must be found.

The deflection f in the desired force normal dimension is approximately calculated $$\mathrm{f}=\left({\mathrm{<figure-callout\; id="3"\; label="nl"\; filenames="imgf0001.png,imgf0002.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">nl</figure-callout>}}^3\right)/\left({2\mathrm{<figure-callout\; id="3"\; label="ebh"\; filenames="imgf0001.png,imgf0002.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">ebh</figure-callout>}}^3\right)$$

Where E is the modulus of elasticity of the material used. It can be seen that the depth b is linear in the spring constant, but this depends on the ratio of length I and narrowness h of the carrier 2 in the third power. The necessary, but as small as possible movement component λ is approximately $$\mathrm{\lambda }\mathrm{=}\left(\mathrm{3}{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; id="2"\; label="f"\; filenames="imgf0001.png,imgf0002.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">f</figure-callout>}}^{\mathrm{2}}\right)\mathrm{/}\left(\mathrm{5}\mathrm{l}\right)$$

It can be seen that the movement deviates increasingly from the perpendicular orientation to the force N, because the component λ is proportional to the square of the component f. It can also be seen that long carriers are favorable for a large ratio of the force normal component f to the force parallel component λ.

Quantitative example values could be a length of 1 = 1800 μm, a narrowness h of 16 μm and a depth b of 450 μm. An exemplary value for the force N of about 4 mN then leads to f = 40 μm and λ = 0.53 μm. The movement of the movable contact thrust 1 is therefore as good as perpendicular to N.

FIG. 2 shows the schematic in FIG. 1 explained basic structure in a concrete application form. On the movable contact piece 1, in this case on the side facing the carriers 2, an electrically conductive surface layer 4 is mounted, which is opposite to a second electrically conductive surface layer 5 on a substrate-fixed part. Between these two drive capacitor surfaces 4 and 5, a voltage U _{d can be} applied which causes the electrostatic drive force N according to the following approximation: $$\mathrm{N}\mathrm{=}\left({\mathrm{\epsilon }}_{\mathrm{0}}{{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; id="2"\; label="AU\; d"\; filenames="imgf0001.png,imgf0002.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">AU\; </figure-callout>}}_{\mathrm{d}}}^{\mathrm{2}}\right)\mathrm{/}\left(\mathrm{2}{\mathrm{<figure-callout\; id="2"\; label="d"\; filenames="imgf0001.png,imgf0002.png"\; state="\{\{state\}\}">d</figure-callout>}}^{\mathrm{2}}\right)$$

Here, A is the area of the drive capacitor 4, 5 and also proportional to b. d is the distance between the two drive capacitor surfaces 4 and 5. It can be seen directly that very large electrostatic forces can be generated by correspondingly small distances, because the distance d occurs in the second power. Furthermore, wide capacitors in the sense of the horizontal in the drawing plane, so large distances between the carriers 2, low. At a distance d of 1 μm, forces in the range of 4 mN result at a supply voltage of 36 V and a typical area A of 450 μm × 1500 μm.

Für N = 4 mN ergibt das eine Kontaktkraft P von ca. 0,09 mN.The movement of the movable contact piece 1 corresponds to the illustration in FIG FIG. 1 FIG. 2 shows that the movable contact piece 1 is switched back and forth between two mating contact pieces 6 and 7. For this purpose, it has, at its ends extending beyond the supports 2, in each case an angled attachment region 8 or 9, which carries in each case two metal contacts, which are connected via a metallic conductor track. These contacts can come in contact with each associated two contacts on the mating contact pieces 6 and 7, which in turn are electrically isolated from each other. you will be So bridged by the contacts on the angled regions 8 and 9 of the movable contact piece 1. The contact force P results from this $$\mathrm{P}\mathrm{=}\left(\mathrm{f}\mathrm{/}\mathrm{l}\right)\mathrm{N}\mathrm{,}$$

For N = 4 mN this gives a contact force P of approx. 0.09 mN.

The hatched areas in FIG. 2 indicate that the two drive capacitor surfaces 4 and 5 and each of the contacts on the mating contact pieces 6 and 7 outgoing interconnects are formed by ion-implanted Si regions. The black filled contacts are metallized, for example by lateral Schrägbedampfung or plasma deposition and masking.

It can also be seen that the micro-relay off FIG. 2 when unloaded drive capacitor 4, 5 bridges the contacts on the left mating contact piece 7 and can be switched by voltage application of the capacitor 4, 5 so that instead the contacts on the right mating contact piece 6 are bridged. The drive capacitor surfaces 4, 5 are aligned with each other so that they lie directly opposite each other approximately in the middle of this path, so that in each case at the two Wegenden a certain offset is present, which is immaterial because of the actually small quantitative significance.

It has already been mentioned that the total contact surfaces can be determined by adjusting the depth b. In addition, the metal contacts can also in the in FIG. 2 be made wider in the vertical direction, if the contact surface plays an essential role.

If you look at one of the two angled areas 8 and 9 and the corresponding mating contact 6 and 7 in FIG. 2 wegdenkt, it can be seen immediately that can be realized with this structure and simple switch, which are either open or closed in the de-energized state (normally open / normally closed).

In the second embodiment FIG. 3 is opposite to the variants FIGS. 1 and 2 to that extent, a deviation before that the carrier 2 'are slightly curved in the illustrated stress-free state slightly S-shaped, namely approximately as in the deformed state FIG. 1 , This can be easily realized by appropriate structuring of the mask in the DRIE process, with which these structures are machined out of the silicon wafer. In addition, the drive capacitor in this example is on the compared to FIG. 2 arranged on the other side of the movable contact piece 1, and therefore designated 4 ', 5'. Finally, the micro-relay in this case is designed so that the "right switch" 6, 8 is closed in the de-energized state, while the "left switch" 7, 9 is open in the de-energized state.

Due to the electrostatic attraction between the drive capacitor surfaces 4 'and 5', the movable contact piece 1 in FIG. 3 be moved to the left, with the carrier 2 'stretch largely or can deform with reversed sense of direction.

Incidentally, the arrangement of the drive capacitor 4 '5' should, in the case of simple micro-relays, be such that a maximum contact force results in the closed state, ie the minimum distance between the drive capacitor surfaces 4, 5 or 4 ', 5' is present. In the first and in the second embodiment, this is given for the right switch and for the left switch.

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment, which is a variant of the second embodiment FIG. 3 represents. The difference is that the drive capacitor in this case consists of comb-like interleaved surfaces, designated 4 "and 5". Again, these are Si structures with corresponding dopings (or metallizations), as the hatching shows. As a result of a production problematic complexity of the mask layout, the effective area of the drive capacitor previously designated A can be multiplied, in this case tripled. For the rest, this embodiment corresponds to the previously described.

All embodiments are technically unproblematic due to the two-dimensional structure and on the other hand show an unusually good compromise between contact closing force, supply voltage and dielectric strength in the open state.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

movable contact piece

2

elastic suspension, namely narrow long straps

3

Base

4, 4 ', 4 "

conductive capacitor surface on the movable contact piece

5, 5 ', 5 "

solid electrically conductive drive capacitor surface

6, 7

Against contacts

8, 9

Angled approach areas of the movable contact piece

f

Movement distance across the force

I

Length of a carrier 2

H

Narrowness of a carrier 2

Claims (14)

1. Microrelay
   having a movable contact piece (1)
   a drive capacitor (4, 5, 4', 5', 4", 5") for electrostatic driving of the movable contact piece (1),
   which drive capacitor has two conductive surfaces (4, 5, 4', 5', 4", 5"), which are separate and essentially parallel, one of which (4, 4', 4") is fitted on one side of the movable contact piece (1),
   an elastic suspension (2, 2') for the movable contact piece (1),
   and a mating contact piece (6, 7),
   with the microrelay being designed such that the movable contact piece (1) can be moved in one movement direction into and out of contact with the mating contact piece (6, 7) by varying the state of charge of the drive capacitor (4, 5, 4', 5', 4", 5"), in order to open and to close an electrical contact between the movable contact piece (1) and the mating contact piece (6, 7),
   characterized in that the movable contact piece (1) is suspended such that the movement direction is virtually at right angles to the direction of the distance between the drive capacitor surfaces (4, 5, 4', 5', 4", 5"), and in that the greatest distance which occurs during operation between the drive capacitor surfaces (4, 5, 4', 5', 4", 5'') is very much less than the movement distance (f) travelled by the movable contact piece (1) in the movement direction during operation, and
   in that the elastic suspension (2, 2') has a spring constant in the movement direction, with respect to a movement of the movable contact piece (1), which is considerably less than a spring constant of the elastic suspension (2, 2') with respect to a movement in the direction of the distance between the drive capacitor surfaces (4, 5, 4', 5', 4", 5'').
2. Microrelay according to Claim 1, characterized in that the elastic suspension (2) is fitted on the side of the movable contact piece (1) on which the electrically conductive surface (4) is provided.
3. Microrelay according to Claim 1 or 2, in which the elastic suspension (2, 2') has a mount (2, 2'), which extends essentially parallel to the direction of the distance between the drive capacitor surfaces (4, 5, 4', 5', 4'', 5") and is very much narrower (h) in the movement direction in comparison to its length (l) in this direction, which mount (2, 2') is firmly connected to the movable contact piece (1) and holds the latter such that it can move elastically in the movement direction on the basis of its length (l) and narrowness (h).
4. Microrelay according to Claim 3, in which the elastic suspension (2, 2') has at least two of the described mounts (2), which are offset parallel to one another in the movement direction.
5. Microrelay according to one of the preceding claims, in which the moving contact piece (1) can be moved backwards and forwards between two mating contact pieces (6, 7).
6. Microrelay according to one of Claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the mount or mounts (2') is or are fitted on a side of the movable contact piece (1), which mount or mounts (2) faces or face away from the side which has the electrically conductive surface (4'), and in that the mount or mounts (2') is or are slightly curved along its or their length (l) and can be stretched by the drive capacitor (4', 5', 4", 5") during the movement of the movable contact piece (1).
7. Microrelay according to one of the preceding claims, in which the drive capacitor (4", 5") has a multiplicity of conductive surfaces (4", 5") which are separated from one another, interleaved and parallel.
8. Microrelay according to one of the preceding claims, having a substrate on which the microrelay is mounted (3), with the movement direction of the movable contact piece (1) being parallel to the substrate.
9. Microrelay according to one of the preceding claims, which is produced in an integrated manner on the substrate.
10. Microrelay according to one of the preceding claims, at least Claim 8, in which the movable contact piece (1), the elastic suspension (2, 2') and the drive capacitor (4, 5, 4', 5', 4", 5") have at least a substantial proportion of their respective functional structure in the form of a two-dimensional structure on a plane which is parallel to the substrate.
11. Microrelay according to Claim 9 and Claim 10, having a buried layer, which is arranged between the two-dimensional structures and the substrate and is at a distance underneath movable structure parts (1, 2, 2', 4, 4', 4").
12. Microrelay according to one of the preceding claims, which is produced by an ion etching method, preferably a DRIE method.
13. Microrelay according to one of the preceding claims, which is essentially composed of silicon.
14. Microrelay according to one of Claims 1-12, which is essentially composed of glass.

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