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Comparison Of Casimir , Elastic, Electrostatic Forces For A Micro-Cantilever, Ammar Alhasan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Casimir force is a cause of stiction (adhesion) between metal surfaces in Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS). Casimir Force depends strongly on the separation of the two surfaces and the contact area. This thesis reviews the theory and prior experimental demonstrations of the Casimir force. Then the Casimir attractive force is calculated for a particular MEMS cantilever device, in which the metal cantilever tip is required to repeatedly touch and release from a metal tip pad on the substrate surface in response to a periodic driving electrostatic force. The elastic force due to the bending of the cantilever support arms is …