Study on dynamic actuation in double microcantilever-based electrostatic microactuators with an in-house experimental set-up

Banibrata Mukherjee; Kenkere Balashanthamurthy Mruthyunjaya Swamy; Siddhartha Sen

doi:10.1117/1.JMM.17.1.015004

5 March 2018 Study on dynamic actuation in double microcantilever-based electrostatic microactuators with an in-house experimental set-up

Banibrata Mukherjee, Kenkere Balashanthamurthy Mruthyunjaya Swamy, Siddhartha Sen

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 17, Issue 1, 015004 (March 2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.17.1.015004

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of dynamic excitation and its utility for enhancement of stable displacement range for a double cantilever-based electrostatic microactuator. A coupled electromechanical problem has been formulated using Galerkin method and solved considering dynamic actuation. The effect of excitation frequency is analyzed thoroughly to estimate the maximum stable displacement range of the actuator. Extensive studies illustrate that for suitable ac voltage–frequency combination, the maximum stable tip deflection for the cantilevers can be obtained even in the range of 50% to 90% of initial gap under specific damping. Such inherent dynamic characteristic of the actuator has been exploited here to achieve larger travel range. Furthermore, the theoretical observation has been experimentally demonstrated with a double microcantilever-based structure fabricated using silicon-on-insulator based process. The experimentation has been carried out using a developed in-house set-up. The major advantage in the present study is that unlike reported literature, the extended range has been achieved here without any additional complex circuits or design modifications. The proposed concept can be extended further to improve the displacement range of other microstructures toward different applications.

Citation Download Citation

Banibrata Mukherjee, Kenkere Balashanthamurthy Mruthyunjaya Swamy, and Siddhartha Sen "Study on dynamic actuation in double microcantilever-based electrostatic microactuators with an in-house experimental set-up," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 17(1), 015004 (5 March 2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.17.1.015004

Received: 3 August 2017; Accepted: 2 February 2018; Published: 5 March 2018

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available