Presentation of Novel Techniques to Investigate the Pull-in Instability of a Micro Beam Subjected to Electrostatic Actuation

In this study, two novel techniques are presented to investigate pull-in voltage of electrostatically actuated micro beams. The pull-in voltages along with structural and material properties are critical parameters affecting the behaviors of Micro Electro Mechanical (MEM) actuators. The work presented in this paper consists of two major sections. The first section deals with studying the pull-in voltage and vibrational behavior of an electrostatically actuated fixed-fixed micro beam. For this purpose, modal characteristics of the micro beam about the equilibrium position are studied using finite element method the results are in good agreement with those presented in the literature. In the second section, a cantilever micro beam actuator with electrostatic actuation is considered. The pull-in voltage and deflection of this actuator is evaluated by modeling and simulating the device in COMSOL multiphysics package, the obtained results are compared with the other previously reported results and good agreements are observed.

کلیدواژه ها:

Electrostatic actuation ، Micro beam ، Modal characteristics ، Pull-in voltage