Using doubly-clamped silicon (Si) microbeam resonators, we demonstrate sub-attogram per Hertz (ag/Hz) mass sensitivity, which is extremely high sensitivity achieved by micro-scale MEMS mass sensors. We also characterize unusual buckling phenomena of the resonators. The thin-film based resonator is composed of a Si microbeam surrounded by silicon nitride (SiN) anchors, which significantly improv...

In the practice of electrostatically actuated micro devices; the electrostatic force is implemented by sequentially actuated piecewise-electrodes which result in a traveling distributed electrostatic force. However; such force was modeled as a traveling concentrated electrostatic force in literatures. This article; for the first time; presents an analytical study on the stiffness variation of m...

Stiction is a major failure mode in microelectromechanical systems MEMS . Undesirable stiction, which results from contact between surfaces, threatens the reliability of MEMS severely as it breaks the actuation function of MEMS switches, for example. Although it may be possible to avoid stiction by increasing restoring forces using high spring constants, it follows that the actuation voltage ha...

The TIARA facilities of JAEA in Takasaki is equipped with a several-MeV light-ion and a several-dozen-MeV heavy-ion microbeam formation systems of focusing type, and a several-hundred-MeV heavy-ion microbeam formation system of collimating type. The microbeams with a spot size of 1 μm or less in diameter are extensively utilized for the research in materials science and biotechnology. An in-air...

This paper describes a MEMS RF switch designed and developed specifically for space communication systems, with a novel geometry and operating mode that overcome the drawbacks of previous devices. To avoid the need for high voltage control, the switch uses electro-thermal rather than electrostatic operation; although this requires higher power consumption during switching, a latching configurat...

The authors describe a method for biomolecular force clamp measurements using atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilevers and micromachined membrane-based electrostatic actuators. The actuators comprise of Parylene membranes with embedded side actuation electrodes and are fabricated on a silicon substrate. The devices have a displacement range of 1.8 μm with 200 V actuation voltage, and displacem...

This paper presents the theoretical design and analysis of a tunable Fabry–Perot resonant microcavity filter realized by movable-waveguide-based integrated optical MEMS technology in InP. Wide-bandwidth, high-reflectivity horizontal InP/air-gap distributed bragg reflector (DBR) mirrors monolithically integrated with the waveguides have been proposed. The filter can be tuned by moving one of the...

In this paper static and dynamic response of nanotweezers composed of two carbon nanotube (CNT) arms are investigated. Taking into account a continuum model and considering the electrostatic actuation as well as the presence of the van der Waals forces, the static nonlinear equations are solved by a step by step linearization and Galerkin projection method. Simulating the closing dynamics of a ...