| Issue |
EPL
Volume 77, Number 2, January 2007
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 20010 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/77/20010 | |
| Published online | 19 January 2007 | |
Effects of Casimir force on pull-in instability in micromembranes
1
Department of Engineering Science & Mechanics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University - Blacksburg VA 24061, USA
2
Department of Mechanical, Aerospace & Manufacturing Engineering, Polytechnic University - Brooklyn NY 11201, USA
Received:
5
September
2006
Accepted:
21
November
2006
We analyze pull-in instability of electrostatically actuated microelectromechanical systems, and study changes in pull-in parameters due to the Casimir effect. When the size of the device is reduced, the magnitude of the Casimir force is comparable with that of the Coulomb force and it significantly alters pull-in parameters. We model the deformable conductor as an elastic membrane and consider different geometries. Beyond a certain critical size the pull-in instability occurs with zero applied voltage, and the device may collapse during the fabrication process.
PACS: 03.65.Sq – Semiclassical theories and applications / 07.10.Cm – Micromechanical devices and systems / 85.85.+j – Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices
© Europhysics Letters Association, 2007
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