Quantification of external disturbance forces in sliding microwire

Area of Science:

• Mechanical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Microstructures are highly susceptible to surface and external forces due to their small size and low stiffness.
• These forces significantly impact MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) functionality, reliability, and performance.
• Direct quantification of these forces is experimentally challenging and costly, necessitating alternative assessment methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the sum of disturbance forces acting on a microwire during push-pull sliding motion.
• To differentiate between surface and external disturbance forces.
• To provide a methodology for assessing disturbance forces in various microstructures for improved MEMS design.

Main Methods:

• Combined experimental and numerical analysis to determine disturbance forces.
• Incorporation of adhesive and electrostatic forces from existing literature.
• Iterative force difference calculation to account for surface force nonlinearity.

Main Results:

• The total disturbance force on the microwire was estimated at 0.295 μN.
• External disturbances were quantified at 0.177 μN.
• Adhesive, electrostatic, and combined van der Waals, capillary, and hydrogen bonding forces were predicted as 0.118034 μN, 0.02014 μN, and 0.097894 μN, respectively.

Conclusions:

• A novel approach successfully quantified combined disturbance forces in a microwire.
• The findings are applicable to other microstructures like microbars, microrods, and microplates.
• Accurate quantification of disturbance forces is vital for the robust design of MEMS devices.