Pull-in instability analyses for NEMS actuators with quartic shape approximation

The pull-in instability of a cantilever nano-actuator model incorporating the effects of the surface, the fringing field, and the Casimir attraction force is investigated. A new quartic polynomial is proposed as the shape function of the beam during the deflection, satisfying all of the four boundary values. The Gaussian quadrature rule is used to treat the involved integrations, and the design parameters are preserved in the evaluated formulas. The analytic expressions are derived for the tip deflection and pull-in parameters of the cantilever beam. The micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) cantilever actuators and freestanding nanoactuators are considered as two special cases. It is proved that the proposed method is convenient for the analyses of the effects of the surface, the Casimir force, and the fringing field on the pull-in parameters.