Impact of Solid Materials in the Gap Space between Driving Electrodes in a MEMS Tri-Electrode Electrostatic Actuator

Abstract

MEMS electrostatic actuators can suffer from a high control voltage and a limited displacement range, which are made more prevalent by the pull-in effect. This study explores a tri-electrode topology to enable a reduction in the control voltage and explores the effect of various solid materials forming the space between the two underlying stationary electrodes. Employing solid dielectric material simplifies fabrication and can reduce the bottom primary electrode’s fixed voltage. Through numerical analysis, different materials were examined to assess their impact. The results indicate that the primary electrode’s fixed voltage can be reduced with an increase in the dielectric constant, however, with the consequence of reduced benefit to control voltage reduction. Additionally, charge analysis was conducted to compare the actuator’s performance using air as the gap-spacing material versus solid materials, from the perspective of energy conservation. It was found that solid materials result in a higher accumulated charge, reducing the need for a high fixed voltage.