Buckled membranes for microstructures

Based on energy variation methods we calculated the deflection of membranes under the combined load of an external pressure and an internal lateral stress. A lateral load gives rise to buckling once a critical load is exceeded. The combination of transversal loads and lateral loads changes the properties of the membrane (and other structures) in the vicinity of the buckling load: The membrane deflects at all lateral loads and the critical load, above which two states are possible shifts. A result important for the design of microsystems, which are based on the buckling phenomenon, is the pressure required to switch the membrane from one state to the other. The theory is tested successfully with micromachined silicon/silicon-dioxide membrane

Low creep and hysteresis silicon load cell based on a force-to-liquid pressure transformation

Important problems in load cells are creep and hysteresis. Expensive high grade steels are used in order to reduce these effects. In this paper a silicon load cell design is presented which is based on a force-to-liquid-pressure transformation. The design is insensitive to hysteresis and creep, can be made at very low costs and is able to measure loads up to 1000 kg with an accuracy of 0.03 %. Analytical, numerical and experimental results on a macroscopic steel load cell are in very close agreement with each other

Micromachined capacitive long-range displacement sensor

First measurement results are presented for a surface-micromachined long-range (50– 100 μm) periodic capacitive position sensor. The sensor consists of two periodic geometries (period = 10 μm) sliding along each other with minimum spacing of about 1.5 μm. The relative displacement between the two, results in a periodic change in capacitance. An electrostatic comb-drive actuator is employed to generate displacements. Measured maximum capacitance change ΔC=0.72 fF corresponds to simulation results but needs better shielding from external noise sources. The results show this sensorconcept can potentially lead towards long-range nano-positioning control of microactuator systems

Micromachined capacitive displacement sensor for long-range nano-positioning

Integrated long-range position sensing with high accuracy will be of paramount importance for high-potential applications in a.o. future probe-based datastorage and microscopy applications [1], provided that nm position accuracy can be obtained over a range of tens of micrometers or more. This work presents the design, fabrication and measurements for an integrated incremental capacitive long-range position sensor for nano-positioning of microactuators. For compactness, economical viability and optimal performance, the aim has been to fully integrate sensor and actuator through micromachining technology, without additional micro-assembly. Two related concepts are presented and evaluated through analysis, 2D-Finite-Element Simulations and experimental assessment. The sensors consist of two periodic geometries (period ≈ 8-16μm) on resp. a slider, movable in x-direction, and sense-structures, movable in y-direction, at both sides of the slider, Fig. 1. In ICMM the displacement of the slider is measured by measuring the periodic change in capacitance ΔCs(x) with a charge-amplifier and synchronous detection technique [2]. Using sense-actuators, the gap-distance between sense-structures and slider is made smaller than is possible with standard available photo-lithography (< 2 μm), thus increasing the capacitance and the S-N Ratio

Integrated thermal and microcoriolis flow sensing system with a dynamic flow range of more than five decades

We have realized a micromachined single chip flow sensing system with an ultra-wide dynamic flow range of more than five decades, from 100 nL/h up to more than 10 mL/h. The system comprises both a thermal and a micro Coriolis flow sensor with partially overlapping flow ranges

Miniaturised friction force measuring system for tribological research on magnetic storage devices

In this paper a silicon head slider suspension with integrated piezoresistive friction force sensors is presented. This device can be used for tribological research on magnetic rigid disk storage devices. Both the tangential and radial friction forces between the slider and disk, as well as a friction induced moment, can be measured simultaneously. Furthermore the normal load on the head slider can be measured. The paper focusses on design considerations and the realisation process of the suspension. Friction measurements are included to illustrate the feasibility of the system

Towards a Casimir force measurement between micromachined parallel plate structures

Ever since its prediction, experimental investigation of the Casimir force has been of great scientific interest. Many research groups have successfully attempted quantifying the force with different device geometries; however, measurement of the Casimir force between parallel plates with sub-micron separation distance is still a challenging task, since it becomes extremely difficult to maintain sufficient parallelism between the plates. The Casimir force can significantly influence the operation of micro devices and to realize reliable and reproducible devices it is necessary to understand and experimentally verify the influence of the Casimir force at sub-micron scale. In this paper, we present the design principle, fabrication and characterization of micromachined parallel plate structures that could allow the measurement of the Casimir force with tunable separation distance in the range of 100 to 1000 nm. Initially, a gold coated parallel plate structure is explored to measure the Casimir force, but also other material combinations could be investigated. Using gold-silicon eutectic bonding, a reliable approach to bond chips with integrated suspended plates together with a well-defined separation distance in the order of 1–2 μm is developed