Chan E.K. – TechConnect Briefs

Effects of Surface Properties on the Effective Electrical Gap of Microelectromechanical Devices Operating in Contact

Chan E.K., Dutton R.W., Stanford University, US

The effective electrical gap between two conducting surfaces sandwiching a thin dielectric layer varies with applied voltage and pressure. Improved methods for measuring and modeling this variation are presented. Optical surface profile measurements of fixed-fixed [...]

Complete Characterization of Electrostatically-Actuated Beams Including Effects of Multiple Discontinuities and Buckling

Chan E.K., Garikipati K., Dutton R.W., Stanford University, US

The entire process of calibrating an electromechanical simulator ñ identifying relevant parameters, designing and measuring test structures, extracting parameters using detailed electromechanical simulations, and extrapolating the behavior of an actual device ñ is presented. The [...]

Characterization of Electrostatically-Actuated Beams Through Capacitance-Voltage Measurements and Simulations

Chan E.K., Garikipati K., Hsiau Z-K, Dutton R.W., Stanford University, US

Detailed 2D electromechanical simulations of electrostatically-actuated beams reveal phenomena not captured by 1D or quasi-2D simulations. The behavior of the beam when in contact with a dielectric layer is studied. Capacitance-voltage measurements are used to [...]

Challenges in Process Modeling for MEMS

Dutton R.W., Chan E.K., Wilson N.W., Hsiau Z-K, Shen S., Stanford University, US

The potency of the silicon IC technology base, its use of CAD for design targeted for manufacturing and the related challenges faced in deployment of MEMS are discussed. The rapidly growing field of MEMS has [...]