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Dynamic behavior of perforated parallel-plate actuator under squeeze film damping effect

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Abstract

Dynamic performance is one of the most critical factors in many MEMS products, such as micro accelerometers, vibratory gyroscopes, micro deformable mirror, etc. Essentially, the dynamic behavior is totally determined by two factors: the internal factor, the stiffness of structure and the external factor, the damping of environment. In this paper both factors are analyzed accurately and a theoretical dynamic model of parallel-plate actuators is presented. The stiffness of the structure, i.e. the spring constant k of the suspension beam that supports the moving plate of the actuator, is achieved by many accurate experimental tests. The damping of environment, referring to the squeeze film damping coefficient c in parallel-plate actuators, is analyzed by calculation and FEA simulation. Further, we consider c a linear function of the actuator displacement, but not a constant value. This treatment greatly improves the accuracy of the dynamic model and could be applied in parallel-plate actuators with large displacement. Dynamic behaviors of the actuators under squeeze film damping, such as natural frequency, response time and bandwidth, are predicted based on the model. Three kinds of parallel-plate actuators are designed and fabricated using a surface micromachining process to verify the estimation of the presented theoretical model and experimental test results have showed good consistency with the theoretical analysis. The dynamic model proposed in this paper could be broadly applied in the MEMS/NEMS systems.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11403029) and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (Grant No. 2014346). Z. X. Chen’s research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61071027).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. State Key Laboratory of Optical Technologies on Nano-Fabrication and Micro-Engineering, Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610209, China

      Weimin Wang, Qiang Wang, Chuankai Qiu & Bin Fan

    2. School of Optoelectronic Information, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China

      Weimin Wang & Zexiang Chen

    3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

      Weimin Wang

    4. Institute of Electronic Engineering, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China

      Fenggang Tao

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    1. Weimin Wang
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    Correspondence to Bin Fan.

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    W. Wang and F. Tao contributed equally to this work.

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    Wang, W., Tao, F., Wang, Q. et al. Dynamic behavior of perforated parallel-plate actuator under squeeze film damping effect. Microsyst Technol 23, 411–419 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-015-2687-0

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-015-2687-0

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