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Assignment #1

This document contains an assignment with 4 questions regarding electrostatic actuators and MEMS devices. Question 1 asks to derive an expression for capacitive sensitivity of a comb drive device and discuss strategies to increase sensitivity. Question 2 asks to derive an expression for the displacement of a shear stress sensor under an applied force and calculate sensitivity. Question 3 asks to calculate the pressure applied to a capacitive pressure sensor given the change in capacitance. Question 4 asks several questions about operating voltages and displacements for a longitudinal comb drive device operating in a liquid medium.

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160 views

Assignment #1

This document contains an assignment with 4 questions regarding electrostatic actuators and MEMS devices. Question 1 asks to derive an expression for capacitive sensitivity of a comb drive device and discuss strategies to increase sensitivity. Question 2 asks to derive an expression for the displacement of a shear stress sensor under an applied force and calculate sensitivity. Question 3 asks to calculate the pressure applied to a capacitive pressure sensor given the change in capacitance. Question 4 asks several questions about operating voltages and displacements for a longitudinal comb drive device operating in a liquid medium.

Uploaded by

Ahmed Emad
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Advanced Nanofabrication & MEMS – NANENG 603

Spring 2019

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Assignment #1: Electrostatic Actuators


1- Derive an analytical expression of capacitive sensitivity with respect to changes in the
overlapped distance 𝑙𝑜 for the longitudinal comb-drive device. Discuss at least two strategies for
increasing the sensitivity.
_____________

2- For the shear stress sensor device shown in Figure 1, derive an analytical expression of the
displacement δ under a given shear stress, if the distributed drag force on the cantilevers are
ignored. In other words, consider only the drag force on the floating plate.

a) If the springs stiffness in the vertical direction should be at least 100 higher than in the motion
direction. Find the minimum acceptable ration between the thickness and width of each spring.

b) Find the mechanical sensitivity of this sensor if the plate area is 500 𝜇𝑚 by 500 𝜇𝑚, the width
of each spring is 4 𝜇𝑚 and length is 800 𝜇𝑚. The material used has a Young’s modulus of 4 GPa.

c) If the linearity range of these springs is 90 𝜇𝑚, find the maximum shear stress that can be
detected.

Figure 1
3- A capacitive pressure sensor uses an elastic diaphragm as one of the parallel plates. The area
of the diaphragm is 𝐴 = 100 × 100 𝜇𝑚2 and thickness 𝑡 = 2 𝜇𝑚. The distance between the
bottom of the diaphragm and the other plate is 𝑑 = 1 𝜇𝑚. The diaphragm stiffness of
187.5 𝜇𝑁/𝑚. Capacitive change due to the applied pressure is measured by the capacitive bridge
circuit with the sensor connected to one of the arms of the bridge. When a certain pressure is
applied to the diaphragm, the capacitor value calculated from the bridge output shown an
increase in the capacitor by 120 × 10−15 F compared to the capacitor without pressure applied.
Find the pressure applied.
_____________
4- The longitudinal comb drive shown in Figure 2 is operating in aquatic media with relative
permittivity 𝜀𝑟 = 76.6. The comb drive is constructed from one fixed rod at the bottom with 5
fingers, each with thickness 𝑡𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 = 5 𝜇𝑚, the bottom rod length is 𝑙𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚 = 1000 𝜇𝑚, and
the upper rod is anchored with two springs each of length 𝑙𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 200 𝜇𝑚, width 𝑊𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 =
10 𝜇𝑚, and thickness 𝑡𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 5 𝜇𝑚, the upper rod has 6 fingers with the same dimensions like
the lower fingers. The upper rod length is 𝑙𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑟 = 850 𝜇𝑚.

a) Find the required voltage to be applied to cause the upper transducers to move 2 𝜇𝑚
downwards, if you know that the gap between each successive two fingers is 1 𝜇𝑚 and Young’s
modulus is 150 GPa.
b) Comment on the result and give one suggestion to reduce to required voltage.
c) If you knew that the finger width is 3 𝜇𝑚 to how much can you reduce the voltage if you
efficiently used the lengths of the upper and lower rods?
d) Due to undercut caused by the etching step, the fabricated spacing increase by 0.5 𝜇𝑚 from
each side. Calculate the actual distance obtained experimentally when the voltage in (c) is
applied.

Figure 2 - (The sketch isn't to scale)

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