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Title: Coupling and tuning of modal frequencies in direct current biased microelectromechanical systems arrays

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928536· OSTI ID:22489096
; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000 (Israel)
  2. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000 (Israel)

Understanding the coupling of different modal frequencies and their tuning mechanisms has become essential to design multi-frequency MEMS devices. In this work, we fabricate a MEMS beam with fixed boundaries separated from two side electrodes and a bottom electrode. Subsequently, we perform experiments to obtain the frequency variation of in-plane and out-of-plane mechanical modes of the microbeam with respect to both DC bias and laser heating. We show that the frequencies of the two modes coincide at a certain DC bias, which in turn can also be varied due to temperature. Subsequently, we develop a theoretical model to predict the variation of the two modes and their coupling due to a variable gap between the microbeam and electrodes, initial tension, and fringing field coefficients. Finally, we discuss the influence of frequency tuning parameters in arrays of 3, 33, and 40 microbeams, respectively. It is also found that the frequency bandwidth of a microbeam array can be increased to as high as 25 kHz for a 40 microbeam array with a DC bias of 80 V.

OSTI ID:
22489096
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English