MEMS Electrostatic Actuation in Conducting Biological Media

Piezoelectric versus electrostatic actuation for a capacitive RF-MEMS switch

-In this paper, piezoelectric actuation is compared with electrostatic actuation for application in RF-MEMS switches with respect to actuation voltage and technological implementation. The expression for the actuation voltages of electrostatic and piezoelectric actuation are discussed and compared with respect to scaling. Calculation examples show actuation voltages for a cantilever beam of 1μm...

Electrostatic fringing-field actuation for pull-in free RF-MEMS analogue tunable resonators

This paper presents the design, fabrication and measurement of the first pull-in free tunable evanescent-mode microwave resonator based on arrays of electrostatically actuated fringing-field RF-MEMS tuners. Electrostatic fringing-field actuation (EFFA) is the key on achieving a wide tunable frequency range that is not limited by the conventional pull-in instability. Furthermore, total lack of d...

A low actuation voltage electrostatic actuator for RF MEMS switch applications

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of an RF MEMS switch. Low actuation voltage and high isolation of the switch were achieved by exploiting buckling and bending effects induced by well-controlled residual stress. The effects of residual stress on improving the switch performance have been investigated using both analytical and numerical methods. The proposed RF swi...

Modelling the electrostatic actuation of MEMS : state of the art 2005

Most of MEMS devices are actuated using electrostatic forces. Parallel or lateral plate actuators are the types commonly used. Nevertheless, electrostatic actuation has some limitations due to its non-linear nature. This work presents a methodic overview of the existing techniques applied to the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) electrostatic actuation modeling and their implications to t...

MEM Analog Tunable Gratings by Electrostatic Actuation