The use of electrostatic forces to provide actuation is a method of central importance in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and is of growing importance in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). The study of electrostatic actuation has led to numerous interesting experimental, theoretical, and numerical results. Yet, surprisingly, even simple electrostatically actuated systems have secrets t...

Mathematical models of electrostatic actuation have been developed since the 1960’s, beginning with the work of G.I. Taylor, and are of great utility in a number of engineering systems. They are of particular use in the field of microand nanoelectromechanical systems, where models have typically dealt with planar geometries. Here, we extend the theory of electrostatic actuation to a non-planar ...

Cavity optomechanical systems offer one of the most sensitive methods for detecting mechanical motion using shifts in the optical resonance frequency of the optomechanical resonator. Presently, these systems are used for measuring mechanical thermal noise displacement or mechanical motion actuated by optical forces. Electrostatic capacitive actuation and detection have been shown previously for...

A microactuating structure with vertical polyimide hinges has been designed, fabricated and tested. Unlike traditional microactuators, which are located on the substrate surface, this new actuation mechanism is capable of producing linear motion at a point far from the substrate. This advantage can make it possible to drive other out-of-plane folded structures for on-wafer or out-of-wafer appli...

Wood is often combusted in small scale units for domestic heating. Although the total particle emission levels in Germany have declined steadily over the years, small scale wood combustion is an increasing source of indoor and outdoor air pollution. A novel space charge electrostatic precipitator (ESP) was developed for control of fine particle emissions control from wood combustion stoves and ...

This paper identifies prior limitations, essential modifications, and effective change in system performance of a hybrid energy scavenger system, coupling both piezoelectric and electrostatic energy conversion using a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) cantilever. Based on energy survey, the system is targeting sinusoidal acceleration of 2.5m/s at 120Hz in a volume of <0.25cm. The primary goal of th...

We present a simulation and experimental investigation of bi-directional tunable in-plane clamped–guided arch microbeam resonators. Tensile and compressive axial forces are generated from a bi-directional electrostatic actuator, which modulates the microbeam stiffness, and hence changes its natural frequency to lower or higher values from its as-fabricated value. Several devices of various anch...

The pull-in voltage of a single-side anchored freestanding beam, under lateral deflection, has been investigated for application as a dc voltage reference. Two sets of electrodes, alongside the tip, are used for parallel-plate type of electrostatic actuation of the 200 m long beam in the plane of the wafer. Another set of buried electrodes is aligned with the plate electrode at the free-standin...

A novel MEMS resonator employing “capacitance-shaping” principle to generate sinusoidal signals is proposed. FEM simulations are done to study the structure. Preliminary characterizations on devices fabricated through SOI-MUMPS are carried-out to study the frequency tuning of the resonator by electrostatic actuation. Variants of the proposed structure are presented. Second order dynamical model...