Mechanical Design Principles

Lecture 10
Basic mechanical engineering
considerations for MEMS

ECE/ME485 1
Lecture 10
 Outline
• Stress and strain
• Loading and bending of beams
• How to determine the spring constant
• T i
Torsional lddeflection
fl ti
• Intrinsic stress
• Resonance frequency and quality factor

ECE/ME485 2
Lecture 10
 Newton’s Laws
• Law of Inertia
– Every object in a state of uniform motion will
remain
i iin th
thatt state
t t off motion
ti unless
l an external
t l
force is
applied

• Force: F  ma
• For every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction
• For a stationary object, the sum of forces on
the object or any part of the object must equal
zero
Even though MEMS devices have small dimensions, Newton’s Laws still always work

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Lecture 10
 The wall provides a counter-force so the bar remains stationary

ECE/ME485 4
Lecture 10
 Moment (Torque)
A i the
Again, th wall
ll provides
id a counter-force
t f
ECE/ME485 5
Lecture 10
 Stress and Strain

• Two types of mechanical stress

– Normal Stress
– Shear Stress

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Lecture 10
 Normal Stress
Pull on a length (L) of material in direction NORMAL
to its cross section area (A)

A
The material will stretch to a new length L+L

Definition of Normal Stress:

F
 Units = N/m2 = Pascal (Pa)
ECE/ME485
Lecture 10
A 7
 Two types of Normal Stress

• Tensile
F F
– Pull apart
• Compressive
F F
– Squeeze together

ECE/ME485 8
Lecture 10
 Normal Strain
• How much does the bar elongate (or
squeeze) due to the applied Stress?
Definition of Strain
L
s No units
L0

ECE/ME485 9
Lecture 10
 Poisson’s Ratio

• When we stretch something along one axis, it gets

skinnier in the other directions

Definition of Poisson’s Ratio

Elongation _ _ to _ force sy s
   z
Elongation _ in _ force _ direction sx sx

Notice that stress and strain can have components in orthogonal

ECE/ME485 directions, and can be expressed as a vector 10
Lecture 10
 Hooke’s Law and Young’s Modulus
• Hooke’s Law: for small deformations,
the amount of stretch is p
proportional
p to
the amount of force applied

  Es
E
E is called “Young’s
Young s Modulus”
Modulus (units of Pa)

• Small E: Big force results in big stretch (stretchy, “soft” material)

• Big E: Big force results in tiny stretch (hard, brittle material)
• E is a measurable property of any material

ECE/ME485 11
Lecture 10
 Shear Stress
• Forces applied to opposing faces of a cube as
shown in the figure
• Cube is deformed into a parallelogram-shape
that
h iis shorter
h iin di
direction
i parallel
ll l to the
h fface off
the material by x

F
Shear Stress:  (units: N/m2 = Pa)
A
dx
Shear Strain:  (no units)
l

Shear modulus of elasticity: G

(analogous to Young’s Modulus)
ECE/ME485 12
Lecture 10
 Stress/Strain Relationship
• Elastic
– Stress/strain curve is
linear
– If stress is removed,
material returns to original
shape
• Yielding
– Stress/strain curve
becomes nonlinear
– A lot of stretch for small
additional stress
– Material will not return to
original shape
• Strain Hardening
– Material gets stiffer with
additional stretching

ECE/ME485 13
Lecture 10
 Stress/Strain Relationship

• Stress/strain relationship is unique to each material

ECE/ME485 14
Lecture 10
 Flexural Beam Bending Under
Simple Loads F
• What is a beam?

F
• Answer: A structure with a long axis
• We
W willill consider
id applying
l i forces
f in
i directions
di ti
perpendicular to the long axis
• The beam is going to be attached to something
on at least one side

ECE/ME485 15
Lecture 10
 Degrees of Freedom
• In what directions can a point within a 1-dimensional
beam (fixed in place on the opposite side) be moved?
• Three “degrees of freedom”
– Rotation
– Left/right translation
– Up/down translation

wall

This side is “fixed” This side is “free”

ECE/ME485 16
Lecture 10
 Boundary Conditions

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Lecture 10
 Boundary Conditions
(c)
(j)
(i)
(h)

(g)

(a)
(b)

(f)
(e)
(d)
(k)

• Typical
T i l MEMS structures.
t t Whi
Which
h BC’
BC’s apply
l tto each?
h?
ECE/ME485 18
Lecture 10
 Examples

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Lecture 10
 A Fixed-Guided Beam
Fixed-guided

Fixed-guided

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Lecture 10
 A Fixed-Free Beam

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Lecture 10
 Fixed-Free Beam by Sacrificial Etching
• Left side is fixed because its rotation is completely restricted.
• Right side is free because it can translate as well as rotate.
• Consider the motion of the tipp of the beam

ECE/ME485 22
Lecture 10
 Finding the Spring Constant

Force _ Applied F
K 
Displacement _ of _ tip x

ECE/ME485 23
Lecture 10
 Finding the Spring Constant
• Concentrate on beams
Fixed-free

• Three types of most

relevant boundary
conditions
– free: max. degrees of
freedom Two fixed-
– fixed: rotation and guided beams
translation both
restricted
– guided:
id d rotation
t ti
restricted.
• Beams with various
combination of boundaryy
conditions
– fixed-free, one-end- Four fixed-guided beams
fixed beam
– fixed-fixed
fixed fixed beam
– fixed-guided beam
ECE/ME485 24
Lecture 10
 Spring Constants for Fixed-Free Beams

• Dimensions
– length, width, thickness
– units in m.
• Materials
– Young’s modulus, E
– Units in Pa, or N/m2.

Displacement equation (Appendix B) at tip for point force applied

at the
h ffree end
d

Fl 2 Fl 3
 x 
2EI 3EI
ECE/ME485 25
Lecture 10 WHAT IS “I” ?
 “I” is Area Moment of Inertia
• Must distinguish from “mass” moment of
inertia,, but definitions are similar

ECE/ME485 26
Lecture 10
 Moment of Inertia (I)
• Also called “Angular Mass”
• Inertia of a rigid rotating body with
respect to its rotation

Moment of inertia can change

when an object’s shape changes.

By pulling in his arms,

arms the skater
reduces his moment of inertia,
resulting in faster spinning while
conserving angular momentum.

• I describes
d ib h how diffi
difficult
lt it iis tto change
h angular
l motion.
ti Th
The
further mass is distributed from the center of rotation, the more
ECE/ME485 27
Lecture 10
inertia it has.
 Mass Moment of Inertia Definition
• For a point mass, M, rotating about an axis
with radius,, r:

I  Mr 2

• For a rigid body comprised of N point

masses Mi, with distances ri to the rotation
masses,
axis, the total moment of inertia is the sum of
the point mass moments of inertia:
N
I   M i ri2
i1

ECE/ME485 28
Lecture 10
 Longitudinal Strain Under Pure Bending
• When force is applied to a beam, it bends
– Results in stress and strain throughout the interior of the
beam
• Load can be applied
– All at one point (I.e. AFM tip)
– Distributed across the beam (I (I.e.
e pressure sensor)

Let’s think about

ECE/ME485 what happens to one small section 29
Lecture 10
 Longitudinal Strain Under Pure Bending
• Sections mn and pq rotate
x with respect to each other
y • Upper part of beam is
COMPRESSED
• Lower part of beam is
elongated (TENSION)
• Dashed line: neutral axis
– Neither in compression
p or
tension
• Stress increases as you get
further from the neutral axis
• Maximum stress occurs at
the upper and lower
surfaces
ECE/ME485 30
Lecture 10
 Strain Distribution in a Flexible Beam
• Let’s consider one tiny segment of our beam that is being bent
by an externally applied force
x
 is
i th
the radius
di off curvature
t off which
hi h
y the neutral axis is an arc

dy  d
• Recall the definition of strain (s), and
notice that as the ppoint “n” moves in
the y-direction, its displacement
d depends on how far it is from the
 neutral axis:
d m x=0 (dy)  xd
dy (neutral
Axis) L (dy) xd x
s   
n L0 dy dy 
ECE/ME485 (dy) 31
Lecture 10
 Area Moment of Inertia for a Flexible Beam
Add up all the moments of inertia for one thin vertical slice
to get the “area moment of inertia”
t / 2 w 3
N
t
wt
x

z
I   ri2 I    x 2 dzdx 
y
i1 xt / 2 z 0 12
• “Area” moment of
inertia: Mass is not
included
• This is the formula for a
beam that deflects
downwards.
• What would it be for a
b
beam th
thatt d
deflects
fl t
ECE/ME485 sideways? 32
Lecture 10
 Spring Constants for Fixed-Free Beams that
Bend Down

Fl 3
x 
3EI
F 3EI
k  3
x l
I = Area Moment of Inertia wt 3
f a rectangular
for t l beam
b I
12
bending down:
For a fixed/free beam:
Ewt 3
k
4l 3
ECE/ME485 33
Lecture 10
ECE/ME485 34
Lecture 10
 Example
• A parallel plate capacitor suspended by
two fixed-guided cantilever beams, each
with length, width and thickness denoted l,
w andd tt, respectively.
ti l Th The material
t i l iis
made of polysilicon, with a Young’s
modulus of 120GPa.
• Beams: L=400 m,, w=10 m,, and t=1 m.
• The gap x0 between two plates is 2 m.
• The plate area is 400 m by 400 m.
• Calculate the amount of vertical
displacement when a voltage of 0.4
volts is applied.

ECE/ME485 35
Lecture 10
 Step 1: Find mechanical force constants
• Calculate force constant of one beam first
– use model of left end guided, right end fixed.
Fl 3
– Under force F, the max deflection is d
12 EI
– The force constant is therefore

F 12EI Ewt 3 120 10 9 10 106  (1106 ) 3

km   3  3   0.01875N /m
d l l 106 ) 3
(400 10

– This is a relatively “soft” spring.

– Note the spring constant is stiffer than fixed-free beams.

• Total force constant encountered by the parallel plate is

km  0.0375N /m

ECE/ME485 36
Lecture 10
 Step 2: Find out the Pull-in Voltage
• Find out pull-in voltage and compare with the applied voltage.
• First, find the static capacitance value Co

0 A 8.85 1012 (F /m)  (400 106 ) 2

C0   6
 7.083 1013 F
x0 2 10

• Find the pull-in voltage value

2 x0 km 2  2  10 6 0.0375
Vp   13
 0.25(volts )
3 1.5C0 3 1.5  7.083  10

• When the applied voltage is 0.4 volt, the beam has been pulled-
in. The displacement is therefore 2 m.

ECE/ME485 37
Lecture 10
 What if the applied voltage is 0.2 V?
• Not sufficient to pull-in
• Deformation can be solved by solving the following equation
– Derived in Lecture 4 on Electrostatic Actuators
2km x(x  x 0 ) 2
V  2

A

• or V 2A
x  2x 0 x  x x 
3 2 2
0 0
2k m
x 3  4 106 x 2  4 1012 x  7.552
7 552 1019  0

• How to solve it?

ECE/ME485 38
Lecture 10
 Calculator … A Simple Way Out
• Use HP calculator,
– x1=-2.45x10-7 m
– x2=-1.2x10-6 m
– x3=-2.5x10-6 m

• Accept the first answer because the other two are out
side of pull-in range.

• If V=0.2 Volts, the displacement is -0.245 m.

ECE/ME485 39
Lecture 10
 Torsional Deflections
• Torsional beams are used to obtain large angular
displacements
– Digital micromirrors
– Rotating devices out of substrate plane
• How far does a beam TWIST?

Maximum Shear Strain

d
 max 
L

Now we have to think about SHEAR stress and strain

Shear stress is zero at the center axis of the bar
Shear stress is maximum on the outside surface
ECE/ME485 40
Lecture 10
 Torsional Deflections
If a torque (T) is applied at one end of the bar, how many
degrees will it rotate?

J = torsional area moment of inertia

ECE/ME485 41
Lecture 10
 Torsional Deflections:
Rectangular Beams
The calculation was performed for a cylindrical beam, but
most MEMS beams are rectangular

TL
 Is still good,
good but substitute J derived for a
JG rectangular beam

Most sane people

l would
ld just
j look
l k it
i up:

ECE/ME485 42
Lecture 10
 Intrinsic Stress
• Most materials have some stress “built in” to them,
even without the application of an external force
• How
H iis th
thatt possible?
ibl ?
– Thermal expansion/contraction mismatch for one layer
deposited onto another
– Lattice mismatch caused by impurity doping

350C PECVD Cool to

SiNx Film Stressed SiNx Film
Process Room Temp

Si wafer Si wafer Si wafer

B-doped Si layer B is smaller than Si, so B-doped lattice constant

I smaller
Is ll than
th pure Si lattice
l tti
Undoped Si wafer B-doped layer has TENSILE stress built in
ECE/ME485 43
Lecture 10
 Intrinsic Stress
• What does it do?
– Deformation
eo a o o of MEMS
S sstructures
uc u es
• Curling
• Bending
– Can change k of a device
– If too high,
g will cause structures to break
when released
– A small tensile stress is beneficial for
membranes to keep them flat

ECE/ME485 44
Lecture 10
 Intrinsic Stress

ECE/ME485 45
Lecture 10
 Intrinsic Stress
• Tensile
– Deposited film tries to be SMALLER than the substrate
• Compressive
C i
– Deposited film tries to be LARGER than the substrate
• Possible to observe BUCKLING of membrane structures (bad)

ECE/ME485 46
Lecture 10
 Intrinsic Stress
• Intrinsic stress can make a cantilever
bend either up p or down

ECE/ME485 47
Lecture 10
 Intrinsic Stress Compensation
• What if you want your beams to be flat?
– Deposit the same film above and below to
balance the stress
– Deposit a compressive film on top of a
tensile film
– Adjust thin film deposition conditions to
control the process to minimize stress

ECE/ME485 48
Lecture 10
 Intrinsic Stress Materials

• Low or Zero stress materials

– Single crystal silicon
– Polymers
• Higher
Hi h stress
t materials
t i l
– B-doped silicon
– Polysilicon
– Dielectrics (SiN, SiO, AlN)
• Actual stress depends
p heavily
y on deposition
p method and
conditions

ECE/ME485 49
Lecture 10
 Measuring Intrinsic Stress
• Even small stress from thin films will measurably
bend an entire silicon wafer

Measure wafer curvature

before/after film deposition
(commercially available
machines do this accurately)

Stoney’s Formula
for wafer curvature:
C = curvature
 = Poisson’s ratio for Si
t = wafer thickness
h = film thickness
 = film stress (Pa) 50
ECE/ME485
Lecture 10 E = Young’s modulus for Si
 Resonance Frequency and Q
• If you drive a MEMS device with a sinusoidal input
voltage with a frequency, f, and measure the
amplitude
lit d off motion
ti as a ffunction
ti off f,
f you can find
fi d
“peaks” at certain frequencies.

ECE/ME485 51
Lecture 10
 Resonance Frequency and Q
• These are natural vibration “modes”
of the structure
• Mechanical energy is stored at this
frequency, and provides positive
feedback
• Called “Resonant Frequencies”
– fr
– Small input V = Big Displacement
• Depending on structure and
environment, peak may be narrow or
fr can be estimated if you broad
– Narrow: resonance tightly confined
know k and the structure’s to only one frequency band
mass – Broad:
B d G Gradual
d l approachh tto mostt
efficient frequency. Not highly
1 k selective
fr 
2 m
ECE/ME485 52
Lecture 10
 Quality Factor (Q)
• How narrow is the peak?

fr
Q
f

• What makes Q high?

– Small m
• Leads to higher fr
• Constant push toward making resonators
SMALLER
• fr>10 GHz possible
– High k
• Stiff materials
• Intrinsic tensile stress
– Removal of fluids that cause DAMPING
ECE/ME485 • Vacuum packaging 53
Lecture 10
 Linear System Dynamics
• State Equations
– Some p parameters will be assumed to be time-independent
p ((b,, k,, m))
– If not, then they will also need to be treated as state variables
– In general, linear state equations can be written in matrix form:

x  Ax  Bu
y  Cx
C  Du
D
x = column vector of STATE VARIABLES ((velocity, y acceleration))
u = column vector of SYSTEM INPUTS (force)
y = column vector of SYSTEM OUTPUTS (velocity)
A B
A, B, C,
C D = Time independent matrices that constitute the system
ECE/ME485
Lecture 10
 Linear System Dynamics
x  Ax  Bu
y  Cx  Du
x = column vector of STATE VARIABLES
u = column vector of SYSTEM INPUTS
y = column vector of SYSTEM OUTPUTS
A, B, C, D = Time independent matrices that constitute the system

• For spring/mass/damper
– 1 scalar
l iinput:
t F
– State variables: x1,x2 (position, velocity)

 x1   0 1 x   0 
 
 x   k b   x   1 / m  F

1

 2  m m 2  
x1  1 0
x1  0
      F
ECE/ME485
x 2  0 1x 2  0
Lecture 10
 System Functions
• We can compute the Laplace transform of the state
equation, so the state equations become:

F(s)   f (t)est dt The Laplace transform
0

sX(s)  x(0)
(0)  AX(s)  BU(s)
X(s) is the Laplace transform of x(t)
x(0) is the initial state of the system
U(s) is the Laplace transform of the INPUT

Solving for X(s):

X(s)  (sI  A)1 (x(0)  BU(s))

Matrix
LP transform of system response Identity matrix inversion
ECE/ME485 operation
Lecture 10
 The solution has two parts
X(s) ( I  A)1 (x(0)
X( )  (sI ( (0)  BU(s))
BU( ))
• Zero-input Response
– Depends on initial condition x(0) with zero applied input
– Also called “natural response” or “transient response”

X zir (s)  (sI  A)11 x(0)

• Zero State Response
– Depends on applied input U(s)
1
X zsr (s)  (sI  A) BU(s)
We can see that both parts of the response require the matrix
(sI-A) to be INVERTABLE.
det sI  A   0
ECE/ME485
Lecture 10
 Natural Frequencies
• There are isolated values of s that result in det(sI-A)=0
• These are called the NATURAL FREQUENCIES of the
system
– These s-values are called the “poles” of the system
• More on this in a couple of minutes

ECE/ME485
Lecture 10
 Transfer Function H(s)
• We can also write the Laplace transform of the system output

Y(s)  CX zir (s)  X zsr (s)  DU(s)

• In our spring/mass/damper example, the D-matrix = 0

• We can then write the zero-state response part of the output as

Yzsr ((s))  CX zsr ((s))

Recall: X zsr (s)  (sI  A)1 BU(s)

Yzsr (s)  C(sI  A)1 BU(s)

Yzsr (s)  H(s)U(s) H(s)  C(sI  A)1 B

ECE/ME485
Lecture 10
 Transfer Function H(s)
1
H(s)  C(sI  A) B “Transfer Function” or “System Function”

• H(s) is a matrix
– # rows = # of state variables
– # columns = # of inputs
• For our example:

 1 
In/out response with F as input
 1 1 and x1(s) as output

ms2  bs  k  m s  s1 s  s2 

H(s)     
s 1 s
 2   
ms  bs  k  m s  s1 s  s2 

 In/out response with F as input
and x2(s) as output

The POLES, s1 and s2 are given by:

b  b 2 k The system has two poles
s1,2      
2m 2m  m
ECE/ME485
ECE/ME485
Lecture 10 Lecture 15
 Undamped Resonant Frequency and Damping Constant

b  b 2 k
s1,2       s1,2     2   02
2m 2m  m

• We will make some new definitions:

k
– Undamped resonant frequency 0 
m

b
– Damping constant 
2m
0
– Quality factor Q
2

ECE/ME485
Lecture 10
 Example
In this case  0  
2 2
• Let m=1, k=1, b=0.5 •
• Solving… • “Under-damped” system
0=1
1 • Dampedp resonant
=0.25 frequency (d):
– Q=(mw0/b)=2 s1,2    j d
 d   02   2

ECE/ME485
Lecture 10
 Underdamped, Overdamped,
and Critically Damped
• Underdamped
p
<<0
– High Q resonator
– The usual target for a MEMS resonator
• Critically damped
=0
– Q = 0.5
– Both poles occur at s1,2= -
• Overdamped
 = large
– Q = small
– Both poles occur at negative values on real axis
ECE/ME485
– Not usually a good regime for MEMS resonators
Lecture 10
 Sinusoidal Steady State
• Most MEMS resonators are driven into resonance by a
sinusoidal input voltage
• What does this do to our analysis?
y
– All inputs are sinusoids
– All transients are zero
• Zero-input
p response
p is ignored
g
– Only forced response to the sinusoidal input must be considered
• The response will also be sinusoidal
– Sum of terms at frequencies of the inputs

Input Output
u(t)  U 0 cos(t) y sss (t)  Y0 cos(t   )
Y0  H( j )U 0 Magnitude
ImH( j )
 Phase
ECE/ME485 ReH( j )
Lecture 10
 Sinusoidal Steady State
• Graphs of Y0 and q are used to show the FREQUENCY
RESPONSE of a system in the sinusoidal steady state
– “Bode Plots”

ECE/ME485 For m=1, k=1, b=0.5

Lecture 10