Design modeling and analysis of cantilever based mems devices with improved performance

Abstract

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems MEMS is a technology which is used to fabricate the components in miniature form in all science and engineering fields Cantilever is a simple device which is comparatively easy to design and fabricate and it also finds wide application as sensors and actuators in different areas of MEMS technology The literature review indicates the necessity of designing cantilever based MEMS devices with improved performance Therefore this thesis mainly concentrates on the design analytical modeling and fabrication of cantilever based MEMS devices with improved performance newlineThe pull in voltage models with the fringe fields are available in literature but only considered for limited range of dimensions So firstly the thesis takes into consideration of development of pull in voltage models for cantilever beam with fringe fields for wider range of dimensions The pull in voltage computed from these closed form models are compared with the FEM Finite Element Method simulation results and experimental results of the fabricated device The results are validated and it is observed that a particular pull in voltage model is better suited for only a particular range of dimension newlineThe second and third part of this thesis focuses on the improvement of displacement in comb drive which is the most widely used microactuator Analytical modeling of single finger with fringe field effect is done For the improvement of performance of this simple cantilever based comb drive non rectangular finger shapes have been considered newline newline