Presented at the COMSOL Users Conference 2007 Boston

Clamped-Free and Clamped-Clamped Microbeams for Mechanical Switch Applications

Muhammet Uncuer, Bozidar Marinkovic and Hur Koser Yale University, Department of Electrical Engineering, New Haven,CT,USA

YALE UNIVERSITY Engineering & Applied Science

OUTLINE
Motivation Cantilever Beam Model Theory Simulation and Comparison Results Clamped-Clamped Beam Model Theory Simulation and Comparison Results
YALE UNIVERSITY Engineering & Applied Science

MOTIVATION
Devices that work under potential shock or high vibration, such as portable devices used in space and military applications, requires Enough immunity to environmental effects Actuate under a predetermined condition, such as electrostatic force or inertial force Accurate models to design them to suit specific needs without actually fabricating them.

Why MEMS switches?

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MOTIVATION

Yao et.al.,

Zavracky et.al.,

Chun et.al., YALE UNIVERSITY Engineering & Applied Science

CANTILEVER BEAM

Floating Electrode

Driving Electrode

Signal Electrode

E = 169 GPa, Width = 50 m, Thickness= 3 m, Initial Gap = 1 m

Beam Length [um] Poisson Ratio Vpi (Experimental) [11] [V] Vpi (Analytical ) [4] [V] Vpi SIMULINK [V] COMSOL (FEM) [V]
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100 0.32 39.9 39.86 40.12 40.025

150 0.06 16.8 16.83 16.94 16.87

CANTILEVER BEAM
V (0, t ) = 0 V t =0
( 0 ,t )

2V x 2 3V x 3

=
( L ,t )

=
( L ,t )

2V ( x, t ) V ( x, t ) 5V ( x, t ) 4V ( x, t ) A + EI =F + + I 2 4 4 t t x t x

F=

b
2( g z )

V 2 + C * A * a g 2

V ( x, t ) =

X ( x)T (t )

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CANTILEVER
0 x 10
-7

T D ip isplacem (m ent )

-2

SIMULINK COMSOL

Pulls in at 1V
L = 275 m, b = 30 m, h = 1 m, d = 1 m, E = 169 GPa, = 0.22, (30g)

-4

-6

-8 0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

time (sec)

d h
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CANTILEVER
0 Tip D isplacem ent(m ) -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 -1 0 x 10
-6

COMSOL SIMULINK

30g

Does not pullin at 0.95 V (no damping) but after 30g

0.5 time (sec)

1.5 -4 x 10

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CANTILEVER
Tip D isplacem (m ent )
0 -2 -4

T D ip isplacem (m ent )

x 10

-7

0 x 10 -2 -4 -6 -8 0

-7

SIMULINK COMSOL

COMSOL SIMULINK

210g
-6 -8 0

190g
0.01 0.02

0.005

0.01

0.015

time (sec)

time (sec)

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CLAMPED-CLAMPED
Floating Electrode

Driving Electrode

Signal Electrode

L = 400m, d = 3m, E = 77 GPa, = 0.33 b = 50m, h = 1m COMSOL Pamidighantam et al., [5] 17.8 V 18.58 V
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b = 30m, h = 2m 35.89 V 35.77 V

b = 50m, h = 3m 60.59 V 59.38 V

CLAMPED-CLAMPED
Displacement in the middle (m) 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 0 1 2 time(sec) 3 x 10 4
-4

x 10

-7

L = 582 m, b = 60 m, h = 1 m, d = 1 m, E = 77 GPa, = 0.33

SIMULINK COMSOL

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CLAMPED-CLAMPED

A
+ EI

z ( x ,t) + t 2
4

z ( x ,t) 5 z ( x ,t) + I t x 4 t L 2 Ebh ~ 2 z z ( x ,t) z = + + dx + N x 4 2 L x 2 x 0

f ( x ,t) +

bV 2 2 (d z )

Stretching and residual stress terms

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Engineering & Applied Science

CLAMPED-CLAMPED
Displacement in the middle (m) 0 x 10
-7

COMSOL1

-1

1V electrostatic force

-2

-3

-4 0

3 time(sec)

5 x 10

6
-4

L = 582 m, b = 60 m, h = 1 m, d = 1 m, E = 77 GPa, = 0.33

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CLAMPED-CLAMPED
Displacement in the middle (m) 0 x 10 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 -1 0
-6

COMSOL

L = 597 m, b = 60 m, h = 1 m, d = 1 m, E = 77 GPa, = 0.33

3 time (sec)

5 x 10

6
-4

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CLAMPED-CLAMPED
Displacement in the middle(m) 0 x 10
-7

Displacement in the middle(m)

COMSOL -2

0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8

x 10

-6

COMSOL

280g

-4

290g

-6

-8 0

0.2

0.4 0.6 time(sec)

0.8 x 10

1
-3

-1 0

0.2

0.4

0.6 time(sec)

0.8

1.2 -3 x 10

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CLAMPED-CLAMPED
D la m n in th m d (m isp ce e t e id le )
0 x 10
-6

-0.5

L = 400 m, b = 50 m, h = 1 m, d = 3 m, E = 77 GPa, = 0.33

2600g
-1

-1.5

-2 0

4 x 10

6
-4

time (sec)

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CLAMPED-CLAMPED
0.5 x 10
-6

T D la m n (m ip isp ce e t )

0 -0.5 -1 -1.5 -2 -2.5 -3 0 2 4 x 10 6

-4

2700g

time (sec)

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CONCLUSION
It is possible to design microswitches that actuate under certain voltage but remains open with a little smaller voltages Microswitches can be immune to shock loading without pull-in under voltages close to the pull-in voltage Dynamics of the beams are mostly affected by the presence of the immediate plate, namely by the squeeze film damping. Immunity to shock loads can be further enhanced by deliberately introducing nonlinearity due to stretching.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Advisor: Prof. Hr Koer Colleague: Bozidar Marinkovic

YALE UNIVERSITY Engineering & Applied Science

REFERENCES
[1] P. M. Zavracky, S. Majumder and N. E. McGruer, "Micromechanical switches fabricated using nickel surface micromachining," Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, vol. 6, pp. 39, 1997. [2] J. Yao and M. F. Chang, "Surface micromachined miniature switch for telecommunications applications with signal frequencies from DC up to 4 GHZ," in 1995, pp. 384-387. [3] Senturia S D, Microsystem Design, pp.135-137. Kluwer, Dordrecht (2001) [4] S. Chowdhury, M. Ahmadi and W. C. Miller, "Pull-in voltage calculations for MEMS sensors with cantilevered beams," in 2005, pp. 143-146. [5] S. Pamidighantam, R. Puers, K. Baert and H. A. C. Tilmans, "Pull-in voltage analysis of electrostatically actuated beam structures with fixed-fixed and fixed-free end conditions," J Micromech Microengineering, vol. 12, pp. 458-464, JUL. 2002. [6] R. Puers and D. Lapadatu, "Electrostatic forces and their effects on capacitive mechanical sensors," Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical, vol. 56, pp. 203-210, 1996. [7] M. Jia, X. Li, Z. Song, M. Bao, Y. Wang and H. Yang, "Micro-cantilever shockingacceleration switches with threshold adjusting and 'on'-state latching functions," Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, vol. 17, pp. 567-575, 2007. [8] M. I. Younis, R. Miles and D. Jordy, "Investigation of the response of microstructures under the combined effect of mechanical shock and electrostatic forces," Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, vol. 16, pp. 2463-2474, 2006.

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REFERENCES
[9] S. M. Han, H. Benaroya and T. Wei, "Dynamics of transversely vibrating beams using four engineering theories," Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 225, pp. 935-988, 1999. [10] Inman J D, Engineering Vibration, pp.459-487. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ(2001) [11] P. M. Osterberg, Electrostatically Actuated Microelectromechanical Test Structures for Material property Measurements, Ph.D. Dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 1995, pp. 5287. [12] H. Hosaka, K. Itao and S. Kuroda, "Damping characteristics of beam-shaped micro-oscillators," Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical, vol. 49, pp. 87-95, 1995. [13] P. D. Smith, C. R. Chatwin and R. C. D. Young, "Design, optimisation and predicted performance of a micro-machined IR sensor that exploits the squeeze film damping effect to measure cantilever beam displacement," Optics and Lasers in Engineering, vol. 45, pp. 503-522, 2007. [14] M. Bao and H. Yang, "Squeeze film air damping in MEMS," Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical, vol. 136, pp. 3-27, 2007. [15] M. Andrews, I. Harris and G. Turner, "Comparison of squeeze-film theory with measurements on a microstructure," Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical, vol. 36, pp. 79-87, 1993. [16] T. Veijola, H. Kuisma, J. Lahdenpera and T. Ryhanen, "Equivalent-circuit model of the squeezed gas film in a silicon accelerometer," Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical, vol. 48, pp. 239248, 1995. [17] M. I. Younis, F. Alsaleem and D. Jordy, "The response of clamped-clamped microbeams under mechanical shock," International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics, vol. 42, pp. 643-657, 2007. [18] H.C.Kim and K.Chun, RF MEMS Technology,IEEJ Trans, vol.2,pp.249-261,2007
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