Magnetic microcontactor and manufacturing method thereof

Method of manufacturing a magnetic microcontactor comprising a flexible beam in one or more conducting materials, having one end attached to an insulating substrate via the intermediary of a foot, and a free distal end disposed above a contact stud arranged on said substrate, said feet and stud being composed of conducting materials and provided with connecting means to an external electronic circuit, and said beam being at least partly composed of a ferromagnetic material activated by a magnet enabling distal end to move towards or away from the contact stud to establish or to break an electrical contact, consisting in the successive steps of:

• a) forming two separate conducting areas each comprising a gripping metallization layer and a layer of a non oxidizable metal on the substrate;
• b) forming a first mask by depositing a layer of photoresist and configuring the latter, so as to form at least two windows disposed above a conducting area in the vicinity of their facing edges, said windows having substantially vertical walls;
• c) growing by electrodeposition, inside the windows, a conducting material in order to obtain studs until said material is flush with the photoresist surface;
• d) forming a second mask by depositing a layer of photoresist and configuring, over its entire thickness, a window above a single stud, said window having tapered walls;
• e) depositing an intermediate metallization layer over the whole surface of the photoresist, walls and the bottom of the window formed in step d);
• f) forming a third mask by depositing a thick layer of photoresist and configuring, over its entire thickness, a channel extending between the farthest edges of the studs disposed on the edges facing the conducting areas;
• g) growing by electrodeposition a ferromagnetic material, to form the beam;
• h) growing by electrodeposition a compressive material;
• i) removing, in one or more steps, the photoresist layers and the intermediate metallization layer either chemically and mechanically, or solely chemically.