Modeling electrostatically actuated MEMS cantilever beam

Abstract

The cantilever beam for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) is a switch controlled by electrostatic forces acting on two plates of a capacitor.The top moving plate is an elastic beam with a certain polarity, while the bottom fixed plate has the opposite polarity.At the actuation voltage, the beam becomes unstable and collapses to the down state closing the switch.The elastic deformation is described by the Euler-Bernoulli beam equations.The orientation of the top moving plate is taken into account.The theoretical model is compared with experimental results.