We present a comprehensive model for analytically investigating the nonlocal and tunneling effects on Casimir interaction at short range for two metallic planes. The plates in this approach are described by free-electron gases constrained in semi-finite potential wells without imposing any macroscopic permittivity properties. Charge density distributions corresponding to the potential wells are calculated analytically to include the effects of spatial dispersion. We show that the Casimir energy in this limit highly depends on the electronic structure near the surface boundary. The usual Lifshitzʼs formula with macroscopic permittivity models can be recovered in the limit of bulk density function while the interaction appears to be largely suppressed as incorporating the nonlocal (real) density function. We also show that the divergences for zero distance can be eliminated in this model. A finite and sensible result is then obtained. Finally, the results are compared with the well-known Lifshitzʼs formula at zero temperature.
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