On the mechanics and stability of micro-plates in electrically loaded MEMS devices

In the last decades, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) have drawn immense attention due to their potential use in a wide variety of modern applications, including micro-mechanical sensors and actuators. MEMS are devices combining mechanical and electrical components between 1 and 100 micrometers, all integrated into a single chip. The...

Effect of pressure on nonlinear dynamics and instability of electrically actuated circular micro-plates

Characterization of nonlinear behavior of micro-mechanical components in MEMS applications plays an important role in their design process. In this paper, nonlinear dynamics, stability and pull-in mechanisms of an electrically actuated circular micro-plate subjected to a differential pressure are studied. For this purpose, a reduced-order...