Advanced Materials & Manufacturing – Page 633

Simulation of Cantilever Beam Micro-switch Pull-in and Collapse Voltages

Reid J.R., Starman L.A., Air Force Research Laboratory, US

Simulations of cantilever beam micro-switches such as those shown in Figure 1 exhibit two important operational voltages: the pull-in voltage when contact is initiated at the landing electrode, and the collapse voltage when the cantilever [...]

MEMS Gyroscopes with Structurally Decoupled 2-DOF Drive and Sense Mode Oscillators

Acar C., Shkel A.M., University of California Irvine, US

This paper reports a novel 4 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) non-resonant micromachined gyroscope design concept that addresses two major MEMS gyroscope design challenges: eliminating the mode-matching requirement, and minimizing instability and drift due to mechanical coupling between [...]

A Nanoscopic Rotary Electrostatic Motor

Wright J.H., Sheehan D.P., Schubert Jr. T.F., University of San Diego, US

A Nanoscopic Rotary Electrostatic Motor [J.H. Wright (Dept. Mathematics and Computer Science), and D.P. Sheehan (Dept. Physics), University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110] A novel, rotary, sub-micron, solid-state motor is introduced that uses [...]

Dynamically Amplified Rate Integrating Gyroscopes

Painter C., Shkel A., University of California Irvine, US

The paper presents the design, modeling, simulation, and initial characterization of a novel MEMS vibratory rate integrating gyroscope, which uses a dual mass architecture. In contrast to conventional micromachined vibratory gyroscopes which measure angular rate, [...]

High-fidelity MEMS Switch Model

Park K.C., Park Y.H., Miyazaki Y., Park K.C., Park Y.H., University of Colorado at Boulder, US

MEMS switches have used in a wide variety of microwave applications because of low loss and small measurable signal distortion since the switching action is accomplished by mechanical contact. While various microswitches are currently being [...]

Coupled Substrate-resonator-electrostatic Simulation and Validation fo High-Q MEMS Resonator Performance

Park K.C., Park Y.H., Park K.C., Park Y.H., University of Colorado at Boulder, US

Vibration energy transmission from MEMS resonator through anchor to substrate, viz., anchor loss, is examined by utilizing the coupled substrate-resonator-electrostatic numerical model. The resonator is electrostatically excited beam-type structure anchored at both ends onto multi-layered [...]

Design and Simulation of a MicroElectroMechanical Resonator Oscillator

Parlak M., Naseer M., Gurbuz Y., Sabanci University, TR

MicroElectroMechanical (MEM) vibrating structures such as linear drive resonators can be used as driving components in signal processing applications. The choice of these components is assisted by the fact that these MEM devices display high [...]

Operation and Testing of a Micro Heat Engine

Whalen S., Richards C., Richards R., Bahr D., Richards C., Richards R., Washington State University, US

The development and testing of a micro heat engine is presented. For the first time the production of electrical power by a dynamic micro heat engine is demonstrated. The prototype micro heat engine is an [...]

FEM Assisted Design of Novel Electrothermal Actuators

Deladi S., Krijnen G., Elwenspoek M., University of TWente, NL

The demand for powerful actuators, which can be embedded into MEMS devices draws attention to electrothermal actuators, although there can be drawbacks such as the heat created during actuation. The main advantage is the low [...]

High Resolution Silicon Accelerometer Using Eutectic Bonding

Kwang Y., Yeon J.C., Kim Y.H., Rhee S.W., Oh S.H., Seoul National University, KR

High precision micro-accelerometers are used in many applications such as automotives, aviations and aerospace navigation systems. In this paper, a lateral capacitive micro-accelerometer with _g level resolution has been designed and fabricated using simple micromachining [...]