The natural frequency and pull-in instability of clamped-clamped nano-actuators in the presence of a dielectric layer are analyzed. The influence of the presence of Casimir force, electrostatic force, fringing field effect, axial force, stretching effects and the size effect are taken into account. The governing equation of the dynamic response of the actuator is transformed in a non-dimensiona...

The shuffle motor is a electrostatic stepper motor that employs a mechanical transformation to obtain high forces and small steps. A model has been made to calculate the driving voltage, step size and maximum load to pull as well as the optimal geometry. Tests results are an effective step size of about 85 nm and a maximum produced force of about 40 pN at 40V clamping voltage and 25 V actuator ...

Electrostaticmicroelectromechanicalsystems (MEMS) actuators suffer from an instability called pull-in, wherein the movable electrode snaps onto fixed beyond a certain applied voltage. Thus, entire allowed range is not utilized for stable operation. We propose pull-in free, low-voltage operation by using cubic nonlinear spring with ferroelectric negative-capacitance hybrid MEMS actuator. use phy...

Electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators are an example of a novel soft material device that can be used for several applications including artificial muscles and lenses. The field EAPs broken down into few fields; however, the will discussed in this study is Soft Electrohydraulic (SEH or EH) actuators. specifically studied Hydraulically Amplified Self-Healing Electrostatic (HASEL) actuator. desig...

We present a microelectromechanical device-based tool, namely, a force-clamp system that sets or "clamps" the scaled force and can apply designed loading profiles (e.g., constant, sinusoidal) of a desired magnitude. The system implements a piezoresistive cantilever as a force sensor and the built-in capacitive sensor of a piezoelectric actuator as a displacement sensor, such that sample indenta...

Thermal bimorphs are a popular actuation technology in MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems). Their operating principle is based on differential thermal expansion induced by Joule heating. Thermal bimorphs, and other thermal flexture actuators have been used in many applications, from microgrippers, to micro-optical mirrors. In most cases openloop control is used due to difficulties in fabric...

Arrays of electrostatic MEMS actuators have been fabricated using a multi-layer SCREAM (Single-Crystal Reactive Etching and Metallization) process. The high aspect ratio single-crystal silicon (SCS) devices consist of released, torsionally suspended grids with tips. Experiments and calculations show that the actuator array is strong enough to move macroscopic parts. An individual actuator can g...