Modeling a Pull-In Instability in Micro-Machined Hybrid Contactless Suspension

Abstract

A micro-machined hybrid contactless suspension, in which a conductive proof mass is inductively levitated within an electrostatic field, is studied. This hybrid suspension has the unique capability to control the stiffness, in particular along the vertical direction, over a wide range, which is limited by a pull-in instability. A prototype of the suspension was micro-fabricated, and the decrease of the vertical component of the stiffness by a factor of 25% was successfully demonstrated. In order to study the pull-in phenomenon of this suspension, an analytical model was developed. Assuming quasi-static behavior of the levitated proof mass, the static and dynamic pull-in of the suspension was comprehensively studied, also yielding a definition for the pull-in parameters of the hybrid suspension.

On the Static Pull-In of Tilting Actuation in Electromagnetically Levitating Hybrid Micro-Actuator: Theory and Experiment

“…After etching the handle layer up to the buried oxide by DRIE, the silicon structure was aligned and bonded onto the Pyrex structure. Note that the internal structure of the fabricated device is similar to one shown and discussed in our works [17,29]. Finally, the fabricated device was glued and wire-bonded on a PCB board as shown in Figure 1a.…”

“…The silicon structure was fabricated on a SOI wafer with a device layer of 40 µm, the buried oxide of 2 µm, a handle layer of 600 µm and the resistivity of silicon in a range of 1.30 Ω cm, as it was reported in work [29]. Additionally, the device layer has a 500 nm oxide layer for passivation, on top of which electrodes are patterned by UV lithography on evaporated Cr/Au layers (20/150 nm).…”

On the Static Pull-in of Tilting Actuation in Hybrid Levitation Micro-actuator: Theory and Experiment

“…The top electrode structure was fabricated on a SOI wafer having a device layer of 40 µm, the buried oxide of 2 µm, a handle layer of 600 µm and the resistivity of silicon in a range of 1..30 Ω cm as it was reported in work [31]. Also, the device layer has a 500 nm oxide layer for passivation, on the top of which electrodes are patterned by UV lithography on evaporated Cr/Au layers (20/150 nm).…”

Calculation of force and torque between two arbitrarily oriented circular filaments using Kalantarov-Zeitlin's method

“…Analytical and semi-analytical methods in the calculation of parameters of electrical circuits and force interaction between their elements play an impor-Email address: k.poletkin@innopolis.ru, kirill.poletkin@kit.edu (Kirill V. Poletkin) cessfully used in an increasing number of applications, including electromagnetic levitation [1], superconducting levitation [2,3,4], magnetic force interaction [5], wireless power transfer [6,7,8], electromagnetic actuation [9,10,11,12], micromachined contactless inductive suspensions [13,14,15,16,17] and hybrid suspensions [18,19,20,21], biomedical applications [22,23], topology optimization [24], nuclear magnetic resonance [25,26], indoor positioning systems [27], navigation sensors [28], wireless power transfer systems [29] and magneto-inductive wireless communications [30].…”