High-G testing of MEMS mechanical non-volatile memory and silicon re-entry switch.

Technical Report · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/875630· OSTI ID:875630

Baker, Michael Sean; Pohl, Kenneth Roy

Two different Sandia MEMS devices have been tested in a high-g environment to determine their performance and survivability. The first test was performed using a drop-table to produce a peak acceleration load of 1792 g's over a period of 1.5 ms. For the second test the MEMS devices were assembled in a gun-fired penetrator and shot into a cement target at the Army Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg Mississippi. This test resulted in a peak acceleration of 7191 g's for a duration of 5.5 ms. The MEMS devices were instrumented using the MEMS Diagnostic Extraction System (MDES), which is capable of driving the devices and recording the device output data during the high-g event, providing in-flight data to assess the device performance. A total of six devices were monitored during the experiments, four mechanical non-volatile memory devices (MNVM) and two Silicon Reentry Switches (SiRES). All six devices functioned properly before, during, and after each high-g test without a single failure. This is the first known test under flight conditions of an active, powered MEMS device at Sandia.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 875630
• Report Number(s): SAND2005-6094
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Semiconductor switches.
42 ENGINEERING
ACCELERATION
FLIGHT TESTING
MEMORY DEVICES
Microelectromechanical systems.
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE TESTING
REENTRY
Reentry vehicles.
SILICON
SWITCHES
Switches.