Mechatronics 20 (2010) 666–673

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Mechatronics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mechatronics

Effect of temperature on pull-in voltage and natural frequency

of an electrostatically actuated microplate
Soheil Talebian a, Ghader Rezazadeh a,*, Mohammad Fathalilou a, Behrooz Toosi b
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
b
Electrical Engineering Department, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper a model based on distributed parameters has been presented to study temperature effects
Received 11 September 2008 on the mechanical behavior of an electrostatically actuated microplate. This work consists of two major
Accepted 15 July 2010 parts. First part deals with the effect of temperature, stretching and residual stresses on the static insta-
bility of an electrostatically actuated microplate. To do this, the governing nonlinear integro differential
equation has been derived using Kirchhoff thin plate theory and linearized using step-by-step lineariza-
Keywords: tion method (SSLM). The obtained linearized differential equation has been discretized applying finite
Microplate
difference method (FDM). The results obtained have been compared to other existing experimental
Pull-in voltage
Natural frequency
results and good agreement is observed. In the second part, in order to study the natural or eigenfrequen-
Electrostatic actuation cies of the system, small vibrations of the electrostatically deflected microplate about the equilibrium
Operating temperature position have been studied. Here, the governing linear eigenvalue partial differential equation has been
Finite difference method (FDM) solved using a Galerkin based reduced-order model, and the natural frequencies of the microplate have
Galerkin method been determined. The results show that temperature changes and residual stress have considerable
Step-by-step linearization method (SSLM) effects on the system characteristics such as pull-in voltage and natural frequencies.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Thanks to recent advances in the technology of microelectrome-
chanical systems (MEMS), micro sensors and actuators driven by
an electrostatic force have become objects of intensive study ow-
ing to their merits of small size, batch production, low-energy con-
sumption, and compatibility with the integrated circuits (ICs).
These micro-devices are key components of many devices and
commonly seen in various structures such as micropumps [1–3],
micro mirrors [4], accelerometer [5], pressure sensors [6,7], etc.
Therefore, further advances in MEMS design are very important
and require more and deeper investigation and understanding of
basic phenomena at the micro scale devices.
Electrically actuated microplates are the main component in
micropumps, microphones and many micro sensors [8–10]. Appli-
cation of these MEMS devices are spread over biotechnology, im-
age processing, automotive, chemical, food and mining industries.
Consider an electrostatically actuated microplate, which forms
one side of a variable capacity air–gap capacitor as shown in
Fig. 1. When a voltage is applied between the flexible microplate
and the fixed bottom electrode, electrostatic charges are induced
on them. The electrostatic charges cause a distributed electrostatic
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 914 145 1407; fax: +98 441 277 7022.
E-mail address: g.rezazadeh@urmia.ac.ir (G. Rezazadeh).
force, which deforms the flexible structure. In turn, such a deforma-
tion leads to storage of elastic energy, which tries to restore the
structure to its original shape. The structure deformation also re-
sults in the reorganization of all surface charges on the device. This
reorganization of charges causes further structural deformation;
hence, the device exhibits a highly nonlinear-coupled electrome-
chanical behavior. Up to a certain applied voltage, an equilibrium
position exists through a balance between the elastic restoring
force and electrostatic force and beyond which the elastic restoring
force of the microplate can no longer resist the electrostatic force,
thereby leading to the collapse of the structure. This structural
instability phenomenon is a divergence or buckling instability and
in the MEMS literature is known as ‘pull-in’, and the critical voltage
associated with it, is called the ‘pull-in voltage’.
Numerous investigators have analyzed and developed mathe-
matical models of electrostatic actuation in attempts to under-
stand further and control pull-in instability in microplates.
Francais and Dufour have presented an approximate analytical
solution for the deflection of electrostatically actuated diaphragm
based on energy minimization, through the use of polynomial solu-
tion technique [11]. They have developed a standardization of
deflection as well as an abacus that allows us to easily identify
the deflection regarding the geometrical and physical parameters
of diaphragm and have obtained a limit displacement which
pull-in phenomenon occurs. They have also measured the center

0957-4158/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mechatronics.2010.07.009
 S. Talebian et al. / Mechatronics 20 (2010) 666–673
Fig. 1. A schematic view of the device.
deflection of the electrostatically actuated microplate using a tech-
nique of microscopic interferometry in order to verify the pull-in
voltage with the obtained theoretical results [12]. Ki Bang Lee
has derived closed-form solutions for the design of electrostatic
devices that employ the parallel plate using spring-mass model
and Cardan–Tartaglia’s procedure [13]. He found that when the ap-
plied voltage approaches the pull-in voltage, the gap between of
the movable and the ground plate reaches 2/3 of the initial gap,
meantime the effective stiffness and resonant frequency go to zero
and the capacitance becomes 3/2 times the initial capacitance.
Nayfeh et al. have presented reduced-order models for electrostat-
ically actuated rectangular and circular microplates employing
Galerkin method to discretize the obtained equations [14]. They
have concluded that reduced-order model shows good agreement
and robustness, being able to predict equilibrium position and
deflections up to pull-in voltage.
One of the major problems in the evaluation of pull-in phenom-
ena in electrically actuated microplates is nonlinearity arising from
the electrostatic force which is inversely proportional to the square
of the distance between the ground plate and the flexible plate. The
nonlinearity makes the solution of the derived equations more
complicated. In the above studies, researchers have used some
techniques to overcome this problem or reduce the compatibility
but an efficient and accurate linearization method has not been
presented. In this paper step-by-step linearization method (SSLM)
is used which can be easily employed in static behavior analysis of
electrostatic MEMS devices.
Because of the fabrication sequence of MEMS, the residual
stress is very important and inevitable to the microplates. There-
fore, accurate and reliable data of residual stress is crucial to the
proper design of the MEMS devices concerned with the techniques
[15]. So that residual stress is an attractive research topic in the
development of the microsystems technology. Effect of Residual
stress on the behavior of electrostatic microbeams has been re-
searched by several authors such as Rezazadeh et al. [16] and
Zhang and Zhao [17], but this effect and axial stress which is gen-
erated due to stretching in fully clamped microplates have not
been studied.
On the other hand, the operating temperature of the flexible
part of a MEMS device can be changed. These changes can occur
owing to change of environmental temperature or due to heat gen-
eration because of intrinsic damping or power dissipation [18,19].
Any change in the operating temperature of the flexible part, cause
the coupled behavior of the MEMS device varies because the stress
state is altered. Therefore, a full thermo-electro-mechanical analy-
sis is required in identifying pull-in voltage and its implication on
the device performance. Several researchers have studied the ef-
fects of temperature variation on the performance of microbeam-
667
based MEMS, particularly microswitches, but there are not any
similar investigations for microplates. Lafontan et al. have reported
the effects of temperature on pull-in voltage in MEMS switches
with metallic membranes [20]. This study shows that a moderate
temperature increase may cause buckling of the switch structure,
leading to premature failure of the device. Tensile residual stress
has been found to increase the buckling critical temperature; how-
ever, the required residual stress may significantly increase the
actuation voltage at other operational temperatures. In fact, a sig-
nificant temperature drop from room temperature may result in
device pull-in voltages outside the reliable range. Besides environ-
mental temperature changes, temperature changes due to power
dissipation can also affect switch reliability [21,22]. Zhu and Espin-
osa has studied the effect of temperature on capacitive RF MEMS
switch performance using 1D parallel-plate actuator model [23],
2D distributed model [23] and 3D finite element modeling [24],
and showed that the temperature increase introduces compressive
stresses into the switch membrane that leads to buckling and de-
vice failure.
As mentioned, fully clamped microplates are widely used in
electrostatic micropumps. These devices work by using a polariza-
tion (DC voltage) and activating the actuator around this polariza-
tion (AC voltage). When DC voltage is applied to the microplate, its
natural frequency decreases [25]. It is proved that to optimize the
working of the micropump, the AC voltage of the electrostatic actu-
ator will be used at this frequency [26]. Hence, forecasting this DC
voltage-dependent frequency is very worthy and a key factor in the
design phase. Most of previous works on the frequency analysis of
the microplates used very simplified models in which microplates
were assumed as lumped model and rigid body; however, these
devices must be modeled as continuum and deformable structures.
An advanced numerical approach to calculate the natural fre-
quency, which can treat continuous fields, is used only in [14].
It is noted from the above that the literature lacks theoretical
studies which address the simultaneous effects of electrostatic
force, residual stress and temperature variation on the pull-in volt-
age and natural frequency of microplates. In this paper, is pre-
sented an improved distributed model with numerical solution
to investigate the mentioned effects. The obtained results are ver-
ified by comparing them with existing experimental results.
2. Mathematical modeling
Fig. 1 shows a device like a capacitor with a pair of parallel rect-
angular plates, which the upper one is a thin deformable elastic
rectangular microplate with thickness h, length 2a, width 2b and
Young’s modulus E that is held fixed along its boundary and the
lower part that is entitled ground plate, attached to a rigid and
insensitive to electrostatic pressure changes substrate. When the
voltage is applied between these plates, the flexible plate is de-
flected toward the ground plate.
2.1. Static behavior of electrostatically actuated microplate
The governing equation for the microplate which is subjected to
nonlinear electrostatic pressure is obtained using Kirchhoff thin
plate theory. This theory is adequate when thickness-to-length ra-
tio of the plate is relatively small. Hence, the nonlinear differential
equation for the microplate can be written as below [27]:
!
@ 4 wb @ 4 wb @ 4 wb
D 4
þ2 2 2þ ¼ Qðwb ; V b Þ ð1Þ
@x @x @y @y4
where wb(x, y) is the deflection of the microplate, D is the flexural
rigidity of the microplate and can be expressed as [27]:
668 S. Talebian et al. / Mechatronics 20 (2010) 666–673

Eh
3 EaDT
D¼ ð2Þ T tx ¼ T ty ¼  h ð11Þ
12ð1  m2 Þ 1t

where h is the microplate thickness, E is the Young’s modulus and m

2.4. Stretching stress effect
is the Poisson’s ratio. Q(wb, Vb) is the electrostatic pressure per unit
area of the microplate and is derived from a parallel-plate approx-
The bringing out equation for considered model is imperfect be-
imation respect to an applied voltage. It can be written as:
cause when the electrostatic pressure is applied to the flexible
e0 V 2b microplate, the microplate deflects and because of clamped bound-
Q ðwb ; V b Þ ¼ ð3Þ ary conditions, some biaxial stresses are created in the x- and y-
2ðG  wb ðx; yÞÞ2
directions. So for accurate modeling of a microplate with clamped
where Vb is the voltage applied to the movable and the ground boundary conditions, axial or stretching stresses must be consid-
plates, G is the initial gap between the movable and fixed or ground ered. In every assumed section in x- or y-direction, the actual
plates and e0 is the permittivity of air. length along the center line of the plate is calculated by integrating
Since the microplate is clamped along its boundaries, so the the arc length ds along the assumed curved line in the plate for
boundary conditions are: small plate deflection as below:
  sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Z Z  2
@wb  0
2a 2a
@wb
wb ða; yÞ ¼ 0; ¼0 ð4Þ lx ¼ dsx  1þ dx ð12Þ
@x x¼a 0 0 @x
  sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
@wb  Z 2b Z 2b  2
wb ðx; bÞ ¼ 0; ¼0 ð5Þ @wb
@y y¼b 0
ly ¼ dsy  1þ dy ð13Þ
0 0 @y
Assuming that the stretching in x- and y-directions is uniform, the
2.2. Residual stress effect
uniform strains due to stretching in x- and y-directions can be ex-
pressed as:
Due to the mismatch of both thermal expansion coefficient and 0 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1
crystal lattice period between substrate and thin film, residual 0 Z  2
Dlx lx  2a 1 @ 2a @wb
stress is unavoidable in the most of surface micromachining tech- ex ¼ ¼ ¼ 1þ dx  2aA ð14Þ
lx 2a 2a 0 @x
niques. The internal residual stresses are rrx on x-direction and rry
on y-direction. These stresses per unit length of the undeformed 0 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1
plate are [28]: 0 Z  2
Dly ly  2b 1 @ 2b @wb
ey ¼ ¼ ¼ 1þ dx  2bA ð15Þ
T rx ¼ rrx h ð6Þ ly 2b 2b 0 @y
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 2ffi
T ry ¼ rry h ð7Þ  b 2
Using Taylor’s series expansions of 1 þ @w @x
and 1 þ @wb
@y
and truncation to its first order, Eqs. (14) and (15) can be rewritten
2.3. Thermal stress effect as:
Z 2a  2 ! !
1 1 @wb
When the operating temperature of the microplate is changed, ex ¼ 1þ dx  2a
2a 0 2 @x
thermal stresses are generated in both x- and y-directions for a
wholly clamped microplate. Due to microscale of the studied
Z 2a  2
1 @wb
microplate Biot number is much less than 0.1 so with a good accu- ¼ dx ð16Þ
4a 0 @x
racy temperature distribution can be assumed uniform. Of course it
must be noted that in microbeam or microplate resonators due to Z 2b  2 ! !
1 1 @wb
heat generation because of strain rate, a temperature gradient will ey ¼ 1þ dy  2b
2b 0 2 @y
be created, but this case is not studied in this investigation. In the
movable and ground microplates the strain in both x- and y-direc- Z 2b  2
1 @wb
tions can be expressed as: ¼ dy ð17Þ
4b 0 @y
rmx rmy rmy rmy The biaxial stresses in x- and y-directions are equal to:
emx ¼  vm þ a m DT m ; emy ¼  vm þ a m DT m ð8Þ
Em Em Em Em
E
rgx rgy rgy rgx rax ¼ ðex þ tey Þ ð18Þ
egx ¼  vg þ ag DT g ; egy ¼  vg þ ag DT g ð9Þ 1  t2
Eg Eg Eg Eg
E
ray ¼ ðey þ tex Þ ð19Þ
where superscripts m and g refer to the movable and ground plates, 1  t2
respectively. In the our case study for the rectangular microplate Now, the stretching forces per unit length of the undeformed micro-
with similar material for the movable and ground plates and plate can be obtained from following equations:
Am  Ag thermal stresses of movable plate in the x- and y-directions  2 2 !
Z 2a Z 2b 
can be expressed as follows: Eh 1 @wb 1 @wb
T ax ¼r a
xh ¼ dx þ t dy ð20Þ
1  t2 4a 0 @x 4b 0 @y
Ea
m
r ¼r m
¼ ðDT m  DT g Þ Z 2b  2 Z 2a  2 !
x y
ð1  v Þ Eh 1 @wb 1 @wb
T ay ¼ ray h ¼ dy þ t dx ð21Þ
Ea 1  t2 4b 0 @y 4a 0 @x
¼ ðDTÞ; ðDT m  DT g ¼ DTÞ ð10Þ
ð1  v Þ
By considering effects of the residual, thermal and uniform stretch-
Tensile or compressive forces generated owing to the temperature ing stresses the governing nonlinear equation for the microplate
changes per unit length of the undeformed plate can be expressed subjected to nonlinear electrostatic pressure can be rearranged as
as: follow:
 S. Talebian et al. / Mechatronics 20 (2010) 666–673 669

! " #
@ 4 wb @ 4 wb @ 4 wb r a
2
t @ wb @4w @4w @4w r t a k a @ w
2
D þ 2 þ  ðT x þ T x þ T x Þ D þ 2 þ  ½T x þ T x þ ðT x Þ þ dT x 
@x4 @x2 @y2 @y4 @x2 @x4 @x2 @y2 @y4 @x2
 @2w 2
! !
b e0 V @ 2 wb a @ w
2 2
a @ wb
 T ry þ T ay þ T ty ¼ ð22Þ  dT ax  ½T r
þ T t
þ ðT a k
Þ þ dT   dT
@y2 2ðG  wb Þ2 @x2 y y y y
@y2 y
@y2

e0 ðV k Þ2
 w
2.5. Small vibrations of an electrostatically deflected microplate ðG  wkb Þ3

By numerically solving Eq. (22), the deflection and equilibrium e0 V k dV

¼ ð27Þ
position of the microplate can be calculated for any given applied ðG  wkb Þ2
voltage. To ensure the stability or instability of the microplate in
the equilibrium position and also to study resonant frequencies where dT ax and dT ay are the variations of the hardening or stretching
of the microplate, the small vibrations about equilibrium position terms and can be defined as:
are studied. The deflection of the microplate can be written as: Z 2a !
Eh 1 @ 2 wkb
dT ax ¼ wðx; yÞdx
wðx; y; tÞ ¼ wb ðx; yÞ þ eðx; y; tÞ ð23Þ 1  t2 2a 0 @x2
Z 2b ! !
where wb(x, y) is the deflection of the microplate in equilibrium po- 1 @ 2 wkb
sition due to applied voltage (V) and e(x, y, t) is a deviation or per- þt wðx; yÞ dy ð28Þ
2b 0 @y2
turbation of the microplate about its equilibrium position. Using
Calculus of Variation Theory and Taylor series expansion about wb Z 2b !
and truncating its higher orders, the linearized equation of small Eh 1 @ 2 wkb
dT ay ¼ wðx; yÞdy
vibrations about equilibrium position can be written as: 1  t2 2b 0 @y2
 Z 2a ! !
Lðeðx; y; tÞÞ ¼ D @4 e 4
@4 e
þ 2 @x@2 @ye 2 þ @y @2 e
 ðT rx þ T ax þ T tx Þ @x 1 @ 2 wkb
@x4 4 2 þt wðx; yÞ dx ð29Þ
2 ð24Þ 2a 0 @x2
r a t @2 e e0 V 2 @ e
ðT y þ T y þ T y Þ @y2  ðGw Þ3 e þ qh @t2 ¼ 0
b
As seen, the nonlinear Eq. (22) is converted to the linear Eq. (27).
The e(x, y, t) satisfies the same boundary conditions as wb(x, y). It Therefore by using conventional numerical methods and imposing
must be noted that the variations of the stretching terms (T ax ; T ay ), the boundary conditions, Eq. (27) can be discretized and then ob-
due to small value of e(x, y, t), can be neglected. tained linear system of algebraic equations can be solved. The
microplate deflection can be determined the each step of applied
3. Numerical solution voltage.
In this paper, the central finite difference formula, due to a rect-
3.1. Static analysis angular mesh, is applied to discretize the linearized differential
equation (27) at the each step for a given applied voltage. 2N + 1
Due to the nonlinearity of the governing equation created by nodes in x-direction and 2M + 1 nodes in y-direction are consid-
electrostatic forces, an analytical solution is impractical and, there- ered. By introducing the following notation:
fore, a numerical solution is sought. Solution of the electrostatic
wi;j ¼ wðih1 ; jh2 Þ; ði ¼ N; . . . ; 1; 0; 1; . . . ; N; j
deflection problems by numerical techniques currently produces
cost effective design and analysis for a variety of applications. ¼ M; . . . ; 1; 0; 1; . . . ; MÞ ð30Þ
The choice of the numerical technique, as well as the choice of
where h1 and h2 are the distance between two nodes in x- and y-
difference operators, plays a major role in the accuracy of the
directions. Node (0, 0) is located at the center of the microplate
solutions.
and nodes (±N, j) and (i, ±M) are located at the boundaries of the
A method for resolving the problems associated with the non-
microplate. The boundary conditions can be represented as follow:
linearity of the equations involved a linearization technique for
8
changing the governing equations into linear equations. Because
< wN;j ¼ 0 wi;M ¼ 0
>
of the sensitivity of the value of the microplate with respect to wðNþ3Þ;j ¼ wðN3Þ;j wðNþ2Þ;j ¼ wðN2Þ;j wðNþ1Þ;j ¼ wðN1Þ;j ð31Þ
the initial gap, especially when the applied voltage to the electro- >
:w
i;ðMþ3Þ ¼ wi;ðM3Þ wi;ðMþ2Þ ¼ wi;ðM2Þ wi;ðMþ1Þ ¼ wi;ðM1Þ
static areas is increased, the linearization with respect to the initial
position may cause considerable errors. Therefore, to minimize These conditions lead Eq. (27) to be expressed solely in terms of the
these errors, a step-by-step increase of applied voltage is used nodal deflections wi,j and a system of linear algebraic equations
and the governing equation is linearized at the each step [16]. composed of (2N  1)  (2M  1) unknown quantities are obtained.
Assuming that wkb is the deflection of the microplate due to the By solving the obtained system of algebraic equations, the deflec-
applied voltage Vk, by increasing the applied voltage to tion of the microplate can be determined for a given applied
voltage.
V kþ1 ¼ V k þ dV ð25Þ
we have 3.2. Eigenfrequency analysis
wbkþ1 ¼ wkb þ dwb ¼ wkb þ wðx; yÞ ð26Þ
In order to solve Eq. (24), various forms of discretization can be
By considering small value of dV, it is expected that w would be used. The major discretization methods that can be applied directly
small enough, hence by using Calculus of Variation Theory and to differential equation are finite difference methods and weighted
Taylor series expansion about wkb , and truncating its higher orders residual or Galerkin method. In these methods, the infinite set of
for a suitable value of dV, it is possible to obtain results with a de- numbers representing the unknown function or functions is re-
sired accuracy. Therefore, the linearized form of Eq. (22) can be placed by a finite number of unknown parameters, and this process
written as: in general, requires some approximation.
670 S. Talebian et al. / Mechatronics 20 (2010) 666–673

ðmÞ ðaÞ
In the present article, the weighted residual method is used to By introducing KNMNM as the mechanical stiffness matrix, KNMNM
ðrÞ
discretize the equation. Initially e(x, y, t) is expanded with respect as the stretching stiffness matrix, KNMNM as the residual stiffness
ðtÞ ðeÞ
to a set of basis functions as follows: matrix, KNMNM as the thermal stiffness matrix, KNMNM as the elec-
X
1 X
1 trical stiffness matrix, MNMNM as the mass matrix and ANM1 as the
eðx; y; tÞ ¼ U nm ðtÞ/n ðxÞum ðyÞ ð32Þ matrix of unknown coefficients Eq. (36) can be expressed in the ma-
m¼1 n¼1 trix form as:
where the basis functions /n(x) and um(y) satisfy the existing geo-
ðKðmÞ  KðaÞ  KðrÞ  KðtÞ  KðeÞ  x2 MÞA ¼ 0 ð37Þ
metrical boundary conditions. To generate a reduced-order model
(ROM) by discretizing Eq. (24) into a finite-degree-of-freedom sys- Hence, the natural frequencies of the system can be obtained, by
tem an approximate solution is considered: solving the following equation:
X
M X
N
eNM ðx; y; tÞ ¼ U nm ðtÞ/n ðxÞum ðyÞ ð33Þ detðKðmÞ  KðaÞ  KðrÞ  KðtÞ  KðeÞ  x2 MÞ ¼ 0 ð38Þ
m¼1 n¼1

Based on the weighted residual method or Galerkin method, Eq.

4. Numerical results and discussion
(33) is substituted into Eq. (24) and multiplied by /n(x) and um(y)
as weighting functions. By integrating the outcome from x = 0 to
Due to proper material properties and fabrication process of sil-
2a and y = 0 to 2b, a set of N  M ordinary differential equations
icon, it is used in MEMS devices widely. Single crystal silicon is ani-
with respect to time is obtained as follows:
ostropic. The crystalline directions of interest include the (1 0 0),
X
M X
N X
M
the (1 1 0), and the (1 1 1) crystal directions. For silicon (1 0 0)
€ nm ðtÞ þ
Mijnm U
m¼1 n¼1 m¼1
and (1 1 0), Young’s modulus varies from 130.2 GPa to 187.5 GPa,
N n o Poisson’s ratio varies from 0.064 to 0.361, and shear modulus var-
X

ðmÞ ðtÞ ðaÞ ðrÞ ðeÞ
K ijnm  K ijnm  K ijnm  K ijnm  K ijnm U nm ðtÞ ies from 50.92 GPa to 79.4 GPa [29].
n¼1 In this section we compare the results obtained using the pro-
¼ 0; i ¼ 1; . . . ; N; j ¼ 1; . . . ; M ð34Þ posed algorithms to the results experimentally predicted by Fran-
cais and Dufour [12]. Our objective is to demonstrate the
effectiveness of our proposed algorithms and to determine the best
where step size for applying voltage as well as selecting the proper num-
Z 2a Z 2b ber of grid points for the finite difference method (FDM).
ðmÞ 
K ijnm ¼ /i ðxÞuj ðyÞD /4n ðxÞum ðyÞ þ 2/2n ðxÞu2m ðyÞ The geometrical and material properties of the model used in
0 0
 Ref. [12] are listed in Table 1.
þ/n ðxÞu4m ðyÞ dx dy; i; n ¼ 1; . . . ; N; j; m ¼ 1; . . . ; M In order to demonstrate the convergence of the solution pre-
Z Z sented in Section 4.1 some sample grid points and step sizes for
2a 2b 
ðtÞ
K ijnm ¼ /i ðxÞuj ðyÞ T tx /2n ðxÞum ðyÞ þ T ty /n ðxÞu2m dx dy; the applied voltage are considered and the concerned pull-in volt-
0 0 ages are calculated for the microplate.
i; n ¼ 1; . . . ; N; j; m ¼ 1; . . . ; M As shown, the best results can be obtained for 0.1 (V) and 441
grid points for step size for the applied voltage and the number
Z 2a Z 2b  of grid points, respectively (see Tables 2 and 3).
ðaÞ
K ijnm ¼ /i ðxÞuj ðyÞ T ax /2n ðxÞum ðyÞ þ T ay /n ðxÞu2m dx dy; Francais and Dufour [12] measured the center deflection of a
0 0
square fully clamped under various electrostatic actuations at the
i; n ¼ 1; . . . ; N; j; m ¼ 1; . . . ; M
EISEE laboratory. In Fig. 2, we compare the deflection at the center
of the microplate which is calculated by using our proposed model
Z 2a Z 2b  without considering residual and thermal stress effects to the
ðrÞ
K ijnm ¼ /i ðxÞuj ðyÞ T rx /2n ðxÞum ðyÞ þ T ry /n ðxÞu2m dx dy; experimental results obtained by Francais and Dufour. As seen,
0 0 there is a good agreement.
i; n ¼ 1; . . . ; N; j; m ¼ 1; . . . ; M It must be noted that in the eigenfrequency analysis different
number of Satisfying shape functions (M and N) were used and a
proper convergence with M = N = 4 were observed, while we
Z Z !
ðeÞ
2a 2b
e0 V 2 /n ðxÞum ðyÞ achieved same results when we used the static deflection of the
K ijnm ¼ /i ðxÞuj ðyÞ dx dy; microplate as shape function with M = N = 1.
0 0 ðG  wb Þ3
i; n ¼ 1; . . . ; N; j; m ¼ 1; . . . ; M 4.1. Effects of the residual stress

Z Z Residual stress is inherently created during fabrication process.

2a 2b
Here, we will only consider the effect of the tensile and compressive
M ijnm ¼ qh/i ðxÞuj ðyÞð/n ðxÞum ðyÞÞ dx dy;
0 0
i; n ¼ 1; . . . ; N; j; m ¼ 1; . . . ; M Table 1
Geometrical and material properties of the microplate.
Considering Unm(t) as:
Width 250 lm
U nm ðtÞ ¼ anm eixt ð35Þ Length 250 lm
Thickness 3 lm
we have: Young’s modulus 169 (GPa)
Poisson’s ratio 0.06
X
M X
N
ðmÞ ðaÞ ðrÞ ðtÞ ðeÞ Density 2331 kg/m3
ðK ijnm  K ijnm  K ijnm  K ijnm  K ijnm  x2 Mijnm Þanm Initial gap 1 lm
m¼1 n¼1 Dielectric of air 8.8541878  1012 (F/m)
¼ 0; i ¼ 1; . . . ; N; j ¼ 1; . . . ; M ð36Þ Thermal expansion coefficient 2.6  106 K1
 S. Talebian et al. / Mechatronics 20 (2010) 666–673 671

Table 2 -7
The obtained pull-in voltages with 625 grid x 10
8
points for different step sizes of applied
voltages. stress=50 MPa
7 stress=0 MPa
Voltage step (V) Pull-in voltage (V)
stress=-40 MPa
5 65.0 6

Center Deflection (m)

3 63.0
1 62.0
5
0.1 61.7
0.05 61.7
4

3
Table 3
The obtained pull-in voltages with 0.1 2
(V) of step voltage for different number
of grid points. 1
Number of grid Pull-in
points voltage 0
0 20 40 60 80
121 60.3
169 60.9 Applied Voltage (V)
225 61.5
441 61.7 Fig. 3. Center deflection versus applied voltage for different residual stresses at
625 61.7 room temperature.

6
0.5 x 10
6
Calculated Data
0.4 Experimental Data 5
Natural Frequency (Hz)
wmax(µm)

0.3
4

0.2
3

0.1
2
stress=50 MPa
0 1 stress=0 MPa
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
sress=-40 MPa
Vp(Voltage)
0
Fig. 2. Center deflection versus applied voltage. 0 20 40 60 80
Applied Voltage (V)

residual stresses on the pull-in voltage and first natural frequency of
the microplate.
The center deflection of the microplate versus applied voltage is
shown in Fig. 3 for different value of residual stresses. This figure
shows that tensile residual stress increases the pull-in voltage
and the compressive residual stress decreases it. It should be noted
that tensile residual stress may lead to adverse effects on fracture
reliability due to increase of voltage required for actuation in elec-
trostatically actuated microplates.
In the dynamic analysis, the microplate deflection in the equi-
librium position (wb) for the given applied voltage is selected as
the basis function. By this consideration and applying the solu-
tion method presented in Section 4.2, the first natural frequency
of the microplate can be calculated. Fig. 4 shows the obtained
first natural frequency of the microplate versus applied voltage.
From the figure can be seen that by increasing the applied volt-
age to the microplate, the natural frequency of the microplate
decreases and approaches to zero in the vicinity of the pull-in
voltage. Also it indicates that tensile residual stress increases
the first natural frequency of the system and the compressive
one decreases it.
Fig. 4. Natural frequency versus applied voltage for different residual stresses at
room temperature.
4.2. Effects of the temperature
The effect of operating temperature on pull-in voltage is shown
in Fig. 5. As observed a temperature reduction from room temper-
ature increases the pull-in voltage and an increase of the temper-
ature decreases the pull-in voltage. Fig. 6 shows the first natural
frequency variation versus increase of the applied voltage for dif-
ferent operating temperatures. It indicates that reduction of tem-
perature leads to the increase of the microplate first natural
frequency.
The effect of the temperature variations on the device pull-in
voltage and the first natural frequency is same as the effect of
the residual stresses. Fig. 7 shows the pull-in voltage versus tem-
perature for three different levels of the tensile residual stresses.
In brief, a MEMS device performance highly depends on the
residual stresses created in the fabrication process and the operat-
ing temperature.
672 S. Talebian et al. / Mechatronics 20 (2010) 666–673

-6 85
x 10
1 stress=0 MPa
80 stress=10 MPa
stress=30 MPa
0.8 75

Pull-in Voltage (V)

stress=50 MPa
Center Gap (m)

70
0.6
65
0.4
60
75 oC
room temp
0.2 55
0 oC
-40 oC 50
0 50 100 150 200
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Temperature ( o C)
Applied Voltage (V)
Fig. 7. Pull-in voltage versus temperature for different values of tensile residual
Fig. 5. Center gap versus applied voltage for different operational temperatures. stress.

6
residual stresses or negative changes of the operating temperature
x 10 perform vice versa. But stretching force due to increasing of rigid-
5
ity of the microplate raises its pull-in voltage and first natural
frequency.

4
Natural Frequency (Hz)

3 [1] Ghader Rezazadeh, Tayefe-Rezaei Saber, Ghesmati Jafar, Tahmasebi Ahmadali.
2 actuator micro pumps. J Microelectromech Syst 1999;8:335–45.
75 oC
room temp
1
0 oC
-40 oC
0 Actuators A Phys 1996;56:135–41.
0 10 20 30 40 50
Applied Voltage (V)
Fig. 6. Natural frequency versus applied voltage for different operational
temperatures.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, a model with distributed parameters was used to
study temperature and other design parameters on mechanical
behavior of an electrostatically actuated microplate. The nonlinear
integro-differential governing equation was derived using Kirch-
hoff thin plate theory considering residual and stretching stresses
and temperature effects. The obtained equation by using step-by-
step linearization method and applying finite difference procedure
was solved and pull-in voltages for different cases were calculated.
The perturbed motion of the microplate about electrostatically de-
flected position due to a given applied voltage was studied and first
natural frequency of the microplate was determined for different
value of the design parameters. Results showed that pull-in voltage
and first natural frequency of the microplate highly depend on the
value of the design parameters. This means that the compressive
residual stresses or positive changes of operating temperature de-
crease the pull-in voltage and first natural frequency while tensile
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