Pull-in instability of a typical electrostatic MEMS resonator and its control by delayed feedback

Pull-in instability of the electrostatic microstructures is a common undesirable phenomenon which implies the loss of reliability of micro-electromechanical systems. Therefore, it is necessary to understand its mechanism and then reduce the phenomenon. In this work, pull-in instability of a typical electrostatic MEMS resonator is discussed in detail. Delayed position feedback and delayed velocity feedback are introduced to suppress pull-in instability, respectively. The thresholds of AC voltage for pull-in instability in the initial system and the controlled systems are obtained analytically by the Melnikov method. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the numerical results. It follows that pull-in instability of the MEMS resonator can be ascribed to the homoclinic bifurcation inducing by the AC and DC load. Furthermore, it is found that the controllers are both good strategies to reduce pull-in instability when their gains are positive. The delayed position feedback controller can work well only when the delay is very short and AC voltage is low, while the delayed velocity feedback will be effective under a much higher AC voltage and a wider delay range.     

DYNAMIC PULL-IN INSTABILITY OF DOUBLE-SIDED ACTUATED NANO-TORSIONAL SWITCHES

A nonlinear frequency-amplitude relation is developed to investigate the vibrational amplitude effect on the dynamic pull-in instability of double-sided-actuated nano-torsional switches. The governing equation of a nano-electro-mechanical system pre-deformed by an electric field contains the quintic nonlinear term. The influences of basic parameters on the pull-in instability and natural frequency are investigated using a powerful analytical approach called the homotopy perturbation method. It is demonstrated that two terms in series expansion are sufficient to produce an acceptable solution. The numerical results obtained have verified the soundness of the asymptotic procedure. The phase portraits of the double-sided nano-torsionalactuator exhibit periodic, homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits.     

An alternative reduced order model for electrically actuated micro-beams under mechanical shock

This study focuses on the effect of mechanical shock on dynamic pull-in instability of eclectically actuated micro-beams through an alternative reduced order model (ROM). The model's predictions for dynamic pull-in voltages are compared with available finite element (FE) results and six modes Galerkin approximations in the literature. It is shown that present results for high shock accelerations agree with FE predictions better than those obtained using six modes approximations. Furthermore, the present model can remove the limitation of previous methods in capturing dynamic pull-in instability for cases under enormous shock accelerations.     

Application of homotopy analysis method in studying dynamic pull-in instability of microsystems

In this study, homotopy analysis method is used to derive analytic solutions to predict dynamic pull-in instability of electrostatically-actuated microsystems. The model considers midplane stretching, initial stress, distributed electrostatic force and fringing fields effect. Influences of different parameters on dynamic pull-in instability are investigated. Results are in good agreement with numerical and experimental findings.     

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.     

Dynamic instability of vibrating carbon nanotubes near small layers of graphite sheets based on nonlocal continuum elasticity

This article presents a new asymptotic method to predict dynamic pull-in instability of nonlocal clamped–clamped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) near graphite sheets. Nonlinear governing equations of carbon nanotubes actuated by an electric field are derived. With due allowance for the van der Waals effects, the pull-in instability and the natural frequency–amplitude relationship are investigated by a powerful analytical method, namely, the parameter expansion method. It is demonstrated that retaining two terms in series expansions is sufficient to produce an acceptable solution. The obtained results from numerical methods verify the strength of the analytical procedure. The qualitative analysis of system dynamics shows that the equilibrium points of the autonomous system include center points and unstable saddle points. The phase portraits of the carbon nanotube actuator exhibit periodic and homoclinic orbits.     

Electrostatic pull-in instability for tweezer architectures

Meccanica - The work investigates the static pull-in instability of electrostatically actuated tweezers with tubular electrodes. At a critical voltage, named pull-in voltage, the attraction force...     

考虑卡西米尔力的静电激励NEMS吸合特性及其尺寸效应研究

基于应变梯度理论和哈密顿原理,并考虑卡西米尔力的影响,建立了静电激励纳米机电系统(NEMS)的尺寸效应模型,并得到模型的控制方程和边界条件。然后,引入广义微分求积法和拟弧长算法,得到模型的数值解。结果表明,当考虑卡西米尔力的影响时,系统两极的吸合电压有所减小。并且,当系统尺寸达到一个临界值时(即两电极间距小于“最小间距”,或可变形电极长度超过“拉起长度”),系统会在没有外加电压的作用下自动发生吸合,这将为NEMS的优化设计和定量分析提供理论基础。     

Nonlinear static and dynamic responses of an electrically actuated viscoelastic microbeam

On the basis of the Euler-Bernoulli hypothesis, nonlinear static and dynamic responses of a viscoelastic microbeam under two kinds of electric forces [a purely direct current （DC） and a combined current composed of a DC and an alternating current] are studied. By using Taylor series expansion, a governing equation of nonlinear integro-differential type is derived, and numerical analyses are performed. When a purely DC is applied, there exist an instantaneous pull-in voltage and a durable pull-in voltage of which the physical meanings are also given, whereas under an applied combined current, the effect of the element relaxation coefficient on the dynamic pull-in phenomenon is observed where the largest Lyapunov exponent is taken as a criterion for the dynamic pull-in instability of viscoelastic microbeams.     

Influence of size effect and elastic boundary condition on the pull-in instability of nano-scale cantilever beams immersed in liquid electrolytes

In this study, the static pull-in instability of nanocantilever beams immersed in a liquid electrolyte is theoretically investigated. In modeling the nanocantilever beam, the effects of van der Waals forces, elastic boundary condition and size dependency are considered. The modified couple stress theory, containing material length scale parameter, is used to interpret the size effect which appears in micro/nanoscale structures. The modified Adomian decomposition (MAD) method is used to gain an approximate analytical expression for the critical pull-in parameters which are essential for the design of micro/nanoactuators. The results show that the beam can deflect upward or downward, based on the values of the non-dimensional parameters. It is found that the size effect greatly influences the beam deflection and is more noticeable for small thicknesses. Neglecting size effect overestimates the deflection of the nanobeam. The findings reveal that the increase of ion concentration increases the pull-in voltage but decreases the pull-in deflection. Furthermore, an increase in ion concentration increases the influence of size-dependent effect on pull-in voltage.     

Non-linear dynamic instability of a double-sided nano-bridge considering centrifugal force and rarefied gas flow

Double-sided electromechanical nano-bridges can potentially be used as angular speed sensors and accelerometers in rotary systems such as turbine blades and vacuum pumps. In such applications, the influences of the centrifugal force and rarefied flow should be considered in the analysis. In the present study, the non-linear dynamic pull-in instability of a double-sided nano-bridge is investigated incorporating the effects of angular velocity and rarefied gas damping. The non-linear governing equation of the nanostructure is derived using Euler-beam model and Hamilton׳s principle including the dispersion forces. The strain gradient elasticity theory is used for modeling the size-dependent behavior of the system. The reduced order method is also implemented to discretize and solve the partial differential equation of motion. The influences of damping, centrifugal force, length scale parameters, van der Waals force and Casimir attraction on the dynamic pull-in voltage are studied. It is found that the dispersion and centrifugal forces decrease the pull-in voltage of a nano-bridge. Dynamic response of the nano-bridge is investigated by plotting time history and phase portrait of the system. The validity of the proposed method is confirmed by comparing the results from the present study with the experimental and numerical results reported in the literature.     

Lyapunov exponents as a criterion for the dynamic pull-in instability of electrostatically actuated microstructures

The dynamic pull-in instability of double clamped microscale beams actuated by a suddenly applied distributed electrostatic force and subjected to non-linear squeeze film damping is investigated. A reduced order model is built using the Galerkin decomposition with undamped linear modes as base functions and verified through comparison with numerical finite differences solution. The stability analysis of a beam actuated by one and two electrodes symmetrically located at two sides of the beam and operated by a step-input voltage is performed by evaluating the largest Lyapunov exponent, the sign of which defines the character of the response. It is shown that this approach provides an efficient quantitative criterion for the evaluation of dynamic pull-in instability, especially when combined with compact reduced order models. Based on the Lyapunov exponent criterion, the influence of various parameters on the beam dynamic stability is investigated.     

An investigation into the effects of electrostatic and squeeze-film non-linearities on the shock spectrum of microstructures

We present an investigation into the effects of some of the common microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) non-linearities on their shock response and shock spectrum. As a case study, a capacitive accelerometer is selected to investigate theoretically and experimentally the effect of non-linearities due to squeeze film damping (SQFD) and electrostatic actuation. For the theoretical investigation, a non-linear single-degree-of-freedom model is used to simulate the response of the device. It is shown that, in the case of light damping, the electrostatic forces soften the microstructure and raise its deflection significantly. Dynamic pull-in instability is predicted near the dynamic range zone of the shock spectrum. On the other hand, SQFD is found to highly suppress the deflection of the microstructure in the dynamic range, while it is of less effect in the quasi-static range. Experimentally, the capacitive accelerometer is powered with a DC load and then subjected to acceleration pulses generated by a shaker. Tests are conducted while the accelerometer is operated in air, where the squeeze film effect is significant, and while placed inside a vacuum chamber. Simulation results are compared to experimental data showing excellent agreement.     

基于频闪栅线投影的三维微结构高频动态测试系统

在微电子机械系统(MEMS)中,执行器的动作主要通过微结构的微小变形来实现,故其动态变形测试具有十分重要的意义.本文采用栅线投影测量和频闪成像技术,研制了一套三维微结构高频动态测试系统,可以实现高速10MHz频率的动态变形测量.由于在频闪测量中,光源照明信号与器件激励信号需严格同步,本文采用直接数字频率合成和现场可编程...     

Size-dependent dynamic pull-in instability of hydrostatically and electrostatically actuated circular microplates

In the present study, the dynamic pull-in instability and free vibration of circular microplates subjected to combined hydrostatic and electrostatic forces are investigated. To take size effects into account, the strain gradient elasticity theory is incorporated into the Kirchhoff plate theory to develop a nonclassical plate model including three internal material length scale parameters. By using Hamilton’s principle, the higher-order governing equation and the corresponding boundary conditions are obtained. Afterward, a generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method is employed to discritize the governing differential equations along with simply supported and clamped edge supports. To evaluate the pull-in voltage and vibration frequencies of actuated microplates, the hydrostatic-electrostatic actuation is assumed to be calculated by neglecting the fringing field effects and utilizing the parallel plate approximation. Also, a comparison between the pull-in voltages predicted by the strain gradient theory and the degenerated ones is presented. It is revealed that increasing the dimensionless internal length scale parameter or decreasing the applied hydrostatic pressures leads to higher values of the pull-in voltage. Moreover, it is found that the value of pull-in hydrostatic pressure decreases corresponding to higher dimensionless internal length scale parameters and applied voltages.     

Reduced-order models for microelectromechanical rectangular and circular plates incorporating the Casimir force

We consider the von Kármán nonlinearity and the Casimir force to develop reduced-order models for prestressed clamped rectangular and circular electrostatically actuated microplates. Reduced-order models are derived by taking flexural vibration mode shapes as basis functions for the transverse displacement. The in-plane displacement vector is decomposed as the sum of displacements for irrotational and isochoric waves in a two-dimensional medium. Each of these two displacement vector fields satisfies an eigenvalue problem analogous to that of transverse vibrations of a linear elastic membrane. Basis functions for the transverse and the in-plane displacements are related by using the nonlinear equation governing the plate in-plane motion. The reduced-order model is derived from the equation yielding the transverse deflection of a point. For static deformations of a plate, the pull-in parameters are found by using the displacement iteration pull-in extraction method. Reduced-order models are also used to study linear vibrations about a predeformed configuration. It is found that 9 basis functions for a rectangular plate give a converged solution, while 3 basis functions give pull-in parameters with an error of at most 4%. For a circular plate, 3 basis functions give a converged solution while the pull-in parameters computed with 2 basis functions have an error of at most 3%. The value of the Casimir force at the onset of pull-in instability is used to compute device size that can be safely fabricated.     

Finite-memory digital filters to estimate laser gyroscope drifts

An algorithm used in a finite-memory digital filter to estimate the low-frequency component of an output signal error in a laser gyroscope is described. In practice, this error component is called a drift, whereas its slow variation is said to be the drift instability. An important peculiarity of this algorithm is its greater level of high-frequency attenuation compared to the widespread filters based on the arithmetic mean algorithm. The frequency properties of these filters are compared.     

Primary resonance excitation of electrically actuated clamped circular plates

We investigate the response of an electrically actuated clamped circular plate to a primary resonance excitation of its first axisymmetric mode using an analytical reduced-order model (macromodel). We discuss the inf luence of the number of modes retained in the discretization on the predicted solutions. The reduced-order model, which is a system of coupled nonlinear ordinary-dif ferential equations, accounts for general residual stress and strain hardening and allows for general material and geometric design variables. Our reduced-order model is robust up to the pull-in instability and is general enough to be an ef fective design tool for capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers.     

Dynamic pull-in phenomenon in MEMS resonators

We study the pull-in instability in microelectromechanical (MEMS) resonators and find that characteristics of the pull-in phenomenon in the presence of AC loads differ from those under purely DC loads. We analyze this phenomenon, dubbed dynamic pull-in, and formulate safety criteria for the design of MEMS resonant sensors and filters excited near one of their natural frequencies. We also utilize this phenomenon to design a low-voltage MEMS RF switch actuated with a combined DC and AC loading. The new switch uses a voltage much lower than the traditionally used DC voltage. Either the frequency or the amplitude of the AC loading can be adjusted to reduce the driving voltage and switching time. The new actuation method has the potential of solving the problem of high driving voltages of RF MEMS switches.     

Oscillation,Instability and Control of Stepper Motors

A novel approach to analyzing instability in permanent-magnet stepper motors is presented. It is shown that there are two kinds of unstable phenomena in this kind of motor: mid-frequency oscillation and high-frequency instability. Nonlinear bifurcation theory is used to illustrate the relationship between local instability and mid-frequency oscillatory motion. A novel analysis is presented to analyze the loss of synchronism phenomenon, which is identified as high-frequency instability. The concepts of separatrices and attractors in phase-space are used to derive a quantity to evaluate the high-frequency instability. By using this quantity one can easily estimate the stability for high supply frequencies. Furthermore, a stabilization method is presented. A generalized approach to analyze the stabilization problem based on feedback theory is given. It is shown that the mid-frequency stability and the high-frequency stability can be improved by state feedback.