Dynamics and touchdown in electrostatic MEMS

Author

Flores, Gilberto ; Mercado, Gema A. ; Pelesko, John A.

Author_Institution

Inst. de Investigaciones en Matematicas, Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

fYear

2003

fDate

20-23 July 2003

Firstpage

182

Lastpage

187

Abstract

A mathematical model of an idealized electrostatically actuated MEMS or NEMS device is presented for the purpose of studying the dynamics of the so-called "pull-in" instability. This arises when applied voltages are increased beyond a certain critical voltage where steady-state solutions cease to exist. A reduced one-dimensional nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation representing an idealized electrostatic structure is derived and analyzed. The coefficient tuning the nonlinear part determines existence of steady-state solutions. Questions about where, when, and how touchdown occurs are answered. A summary of new findings is presented and formal analytical results are compared with numerical approximations.

Keywords

electrostatic actuators; electrostatic structure; electrostatically actuated MEMS; one-dimensional nonlinear reaction diffusion equation; pull-in instability; steady state solutions; Cities and towns; Electrostatic actuators; Electrostatic analysis; Laplace equations; Mathematical model; Micromechanical devices; Nanoelectromechanical systems; Nonlinear equations; Steady-state; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

MEMS, NANO and Smart Systems, 2003. Proceedings. International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7695-1947-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICMENS.2003.1221990

Filename

1221990