Zhe J., Wu X., Cheng J., Wang J., Farmer K.R., Frechette L., Modi V.
Columbia University, US
Keywords: electrostatic, micro-actuator, pull-in, travel range
A general theory and method was presented and employed to analyze the static behaviors of non-deformable electrostatic actuator systems with various electrode shapes. This method utilizes capacitance-based generalized equations and provides an easy and time saving platform over coupled FEM simulations for pull in analysis of complex system. The effects of various geometric shapes of electrodes on travel range of electrostatic actuators are investigated in details. The analytical results showed that non-deformable cantilever torsion actuators could reach travel ranges of 48.3%, 55.8% and 100% with elliptic, parabolic (n = 2) and power function (n = 6) shaped electrodes respectively. The increase of travel range by partial electrode actuation is also evaluated. It is found that the partial actuation can avoid pull in and reach full travel ranges with sacrifice of the bias voltage.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Technical Proceedings of the 2002 International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Microsystems
Published: April 22, 2002
Pages: 287 - 290
Industry sector: Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: MEMS & NEMS Devices, Modeling & Applications
ISBN: 0-9708275-7-1