Resonance and

Electrostatic I
EE485A Lecture
10 September 2009
More fun with springs
If you yank on this mass and then
let go, what happens?
The fundamental resonance
frequency for a system with
spring constant k and mass m is
given by:
0
1
2
k
f
m t
=
Applied to MEMS
W = 10 m
The Process:
1. Determine the spring constant of the beam.
2. Determine the mass of the beam.
3. Use to calculate the resonance frequency
L = 200 m
Force direction
t = 1 m
H = 10 m
OK, so you can treat MEMS structures as mass-spring
systems, but how does that relate to an electrical signal?
Intrinsic Stress
All of this beam bending stuff has assumed that the
materials are deposited with no internal stress.
In practice, thin films generally have internal stress,
which can result in deflection even in the absence of
loading.
Electrostatics Introduction
One way to translate motion into an electrical signal.
Recall the capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor:



Sensing set up structure so that A or d change and look at
resulting voltage signal.
Actuation apply a voltage to the capacitor that forces a change
in A or d.
Major advantages of electrostatic sensing and actuation:
Simplicity
Low power
Fast response
d
A
C
c
=
Parallel Plate General Expressions
Definition of capacitance:

Energy of a capacitor:

Capacitance for a parallel plate capacitor:

Force related to change in d with constant biasing
voltage:

C
Q
CV U
2
2
2
1
2
1
= =
d
Area, A
d
A
C
c
=
d
CV
V
d
A
V
d
A
d d
U
F
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
= =
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
=
c
c
=
c c
V
Q
C =
Exercise
Given a parallel plate capacitor with area 400 x 400 m
2
and an initial
gap (filled with air) of 10 m, determine the capacitance and the
attractive force if V = 10 V. Repeat if the initial gap is 1 m.





In some devices that use electrostatic sensing and actuation, charge is
held constant rather than voltage. For this case, determine the force
associated with changes in the plate separation, d.
Equilibrium Position of Plate
Electrostatic force:


Restoring force:


Spring constant is
softened by electric field,
but this effect is small
and well ignore it.
Force balance:
( )
2
2
0
2
1
V
x x
A
F
electric
+
=
c
V
k
m
x
0
fixed plate

movable plate

F
mechanical
F
electric
x
0
+x
x k F
m mechanical
=
( )
2
2
0
2
1
V
x x
A
x k
m
+
=
c
Pull-In Effect
At V= V
P
, there is no longer a force balance
and the upper plate snaps down.
x
0
+x
|F|
x
0

Restoring force
Electric force
Electric force at Pull In
Increasing V
V = V
P
Calculating the pull-in voltage
Rearranging force
balance:

At pull-in, the slope of
the two force/distance
curves must be equal:
Substituting expression
for V
2
:
( )
A
x x x k
V
m
c
2
0
2
2 +
=
( )
m
elec
k
x x
AV
x x d
dF
=
+
=
+
3
0
2
0
) (
c
( ) ( )
( )
m
m
k
A
x x x k
x x
A
x x
AV
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
+
=
+
c
c c
2
0
3
0
3
0
2
) 2
This is only true for x = -x
0
/3. So pull in occurs
when the gap reaches 2/3 x
0
.
Exercise
Verify that x = -x
0
/3 is the solution for pull-in



Show that the expression for the pull-in voltage,
V
P
, in terms of x
0
, k
m
, and A is given by:


3
0
8
27
m
P
k x
V
A c
=
Exercise
A parallel plate capacitor is suspended by two fixed-guided cantilever
beams, each with its length, width and thickness denoted by l = 100 m,
w = 10 m, and t = 1 m. The material is polysilicon with a Youngs
modulus of 120 GPa. The initial gap is 2 m, and the plate area is 100
m X 100 m.
Determine the mechanical spring constant for the structure.
Determine the pull-in voltage
Determine the voltage necessary for a 0.5 m deflection.
Holding voltage
After pull-in, the voltage required to hold the plate
down is less than the pull-in voltage.
2 2
0
2
1
2 2
r
electrical
d
A CV V
F
d t
c c
= =
V
hold
F
mechanical
F
electric
Dielectric layer necessary to
prevent short circuit!

0 mechanical m
F k x =
2
0
0
2
d
hold m
r
t
V k x
A c c
=
t
d
Exercise
Calculate the holding voltage for the previous
example.
Dielectric charging
One issue with electrostatic devices is the
accumulation of charge in the dielectric layer
Can cause pull-in voltage drift.
Can cause device failure.
Electrostatic actuators often use voltage
waveforms that alternate in polarity to combat
this problem.