07 - 05 - 05 - MEMS Modeling Course in Comsol PDF

C O N T E N T S
MEMS Modeling Course

Preface Thermal Bilayer Valve Key Instructive Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step by Step Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Electrostatic Comb Drive 2 3 3 3 17
Calculation of Capacitance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2D Electrostatic Cantilever 32 Key Instructive Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Step-By-Step Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Low-Voltage Electroosmotic Micropump 43 Model Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Results and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Step-by-step Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
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CONTENTS
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MEMS Modeling Course
P re f ace
Mathematical modeling has become a very important part of the research and development work in engineering and science. Competitive edge requires speed on the path between idea and prototype, and mathematical modeling and simulation provides a valuable shortcut for understanding both qualitative and quantitative aspects of scientific and engineering design. This course gives you an introduction modeling microscale systems using FEMLAB and the MEMS Module. It takes you though several fields of science encouneted when modeling MEMS: Electrical and structural problems, piezoelectricity and microfluidics. You do not require any prior expertise in mathematical modeling or FEMLAB in order to be rewarding. Enjoy your modeling!
The COMSOL team
PREFACE
Th er ma l Bila yer V alve

A common actuation method in MEMS is to utilize deformations caused by differential thermal expansion in layered materials. The shear stresses induced by two or more layers undergoing differential expansion induces a curvature in the structure which can be used to close a switch, operate a valve, or deflect a cantilever... If the structure is constrained from expanding at its extremities, thermal expansion will also induce buckling - leading to further deformation. This model uses both bimetallic curvature and expansion buckling to deflect the center of a disk upward. The heat source is simple resistive heating of a resistive layer on the disk. Thus the problem couples axi-symmetric structural loading and buckling with simulations of heat transfer and axi-symmetric current flow.
Key Instructive Elements

The key elements we hope you will learn in this example are How to set up and solve a thermal deformation problem Solving axi-symmetry buckling problems Showing how to couple electrical resistance losses as a source term in the heat equation.
REFERENCES
1. Koch, Evans and Brunnschweiler, Microfluidic Technology and Applications, Research Studies Press, Baldock, England. 2000.
Step by Step Instructions

This problem involves modelling compressive and shear stress deformation created by thermal expansion. The thermal field is created by passing an electric current through an electrically resistive layer. Thus we eventually will need to couple three sets of physical phenomena: structural deformation, heat transfer and DC-conductive current flow. Instead of jumping into the full coupled simulation, it is often better to gain understanding of one phenomena at a time. This can give valuable design insight that is limited to only a few parameters, rather than buried in the potentially subtle iterations of many equations. Thermal deformation is a good example of this. First we need to understand the basics: How much actuation can be expected from our disk
T HE R MAL BIL AYER VALVE
given a certain temperature increase. Then, using FEMLABs ability to quickly enter simple equations into subdomain and boundary fields, we can explore the ramifications of various thermal loads. This insight with one set of physics can be used to choose materials and other design parameters to optimize the conditions causing the temperature field. Once this understanding is attained, we can simulate the full coupled equations to optimize and verify the actual performance under the fully-coupled situation.
SELECTING APPLICATION MODE
1 Select Axial symmetry (2D) and MEMS Module > Axial Symmetry, Stress-Strain > Static Analysis in the Model Navigator. To be sure you have the right application mode: The
default Dependant variables should be named u or w and the default Application mode name should be axi. Click OK.
C REAT ING TH E GEOM ETR Y
As in the other problems in this course: this problem will be solved using SI units (meters, seconds, Newtons, etc). Since the geometry is measured in microns, we will first enter the geometry as if the unit system was microns (in other words, without the e-6 after all numbers) and then, scale the entire geometry by 1e-6 to have it in SI units. This approach reduces the amount of typing and avoids the likely error of forgetting to include e-6 on one of the dimensions. Be sure to remember to scale
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CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE
the problem back to micons (there is an instruction step doing this) - else you will not be modeling a MEMS device!
1 Select Draw > Specify Objects > Rectangle to specify the dimensions of the substrate
and bellows structure. Enter values as shown in the table below. Click OK as each rectangle is defined. You may want to select the Zoom Extents button from time to time to properly scale the graphics window.
RECTANGLE SIZE NAME WIDTH RECTANGLE SIZE HEIGHT CORNER POINT R CORNER POINT Z
Low Te Lower Bilayer High Te Upper Bilayer Resistive Layer Pogo Pin Contact Support Ring Substrate
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6
1900 1900 1900 250 300 1400
20 25 10 20 200 200
0 0 0 0 1600 1600
10 30 0 -20 -200 -400
Note: Do not skip this step!
2 Select everything by hitting Ctrl-A, Then select the Scale button on the left vertical
toolbar and enter 1e-6 for the r-scaling and 1e-6 for the z-scaling. This makes the
geometry measured in meters (SI-metric) rather than microns. Click OK and then select Zoom Extents. Your geometry should look like this:
EN TERI NG T HE MEC HA NIC AL PRO PER TIES
1 Select Physics > Subdomain Settings. Assign Material Properties as shown in the table
below. Note that Subdomains 3, 5 and 6 are all the same material (Silicon)
SUBDOMAIN E NU ALPHA RHO
1 (Pogo Pin Contact) 2 (Resistive Layer) 3 (Lower Bilayer) 4 (Upper Bilayer) 5 (Substrate) 6 (Support Ring)
69e9 150e9 131e9 80e9 131e9 131e9
0.33 0.33 0.27 0.30 0.27 0.27
23.4e-6 0.8e-6 4.15e-6 250e-6 4.15e-6 4.15e-6
2700 1450 2330 2730 2330 2330
2 Select Apply to assign these material properties. 3 While still in the subdomain properties window, select the Load tab. For each
subdomain, except subdomain 5 (the substrate) Check the checkbox next to Include thermal expansion and enter Temperature in the Temp field and 0 in the Tempref field. Do this for each of subdomains 1,2,3,4 and 6. We are skipping the substrate to avoid artificial stresses where we artificially ended the simulation boundary. Later,
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when we have the full coupled solution we will return to this screen and replace the temperature with the local temperature calculated from the heat diffusion problem.
4 Select OK. 5 Choose Options > Constants and enter Temperature as the name and 50 as the
expression. Click OK. This problem is potentially a large-deformation problem. As such we need to turn large deformation on and change the solver from linear to non-linear. (Once we include the joule heating, the problem is non-linear anyway, so it is probably safest to include the nonlinear solver already at this stage).
6 Choose Physics > Properties and change the Large Deformation field from Off to On. 7 Choose Solve > Solver Parameters and change the solver from Static Linear to Static Nonlinear. Click OK .
The deformation that we are looking for is a buckling deformation. It is wise to give the numerical calculation a small push in the direction of the deformation so that it will actually snap up (and not possibly snap down) In this case we have a force already in this direction - the force from the spring-loaded pogo pin. Even if we did not have this you are well advised to create a small force initializing the buckle direction.
8 Choose Physics > Boundary Settings and the Load tab. Select boundary 2 and enter a
value of 2e6 for the pressure in the vertical direction.
Last we need to constrain the problem. The actual substrate is thicker and continues radially in the positive r direction. For this model, we assume the stresses become insignificant as we approach these two boundaries. Thus we will constrain both boundaries. This represents the support from the rest of the substrate not included in the model.
9 Choose Physics > Boundary Settings and select the lower boundary of the substrate
and the right-hand vertical boundary of the substrate (Boundaries 13 and 22).
Check both Rr and Rz Constraint boxes. Leave the values next to these boxes zero. Click OK.
C REAT ING TH E M ESH
Finally, we need to mesh the problem. The thin thermal resistive layer will lead to small elements and potentially a large number of degrees of freedom in the full-coupled case. Ordinarily, for this problem we would not need to worry about this. However, since the computers used for classes typically do not have extra memory loaded, it is prudent to keep the problem size small. This also speeds up the overall solution time. To do this we use a new feature of 3.0 under the Advance tab of the Mesh Parameters window. We are able to reduce the impact of small layers by (internally) scaling the geometry prior to meshing and then unscaling the geometry back to its original size. This fools the mesher into using higher aspect ratio elements - which if you scale perpendicular to thin layers with this feature - leads to smaller meshes. Be careful with this. You are purposely decreasing the mesh quality and potentially introducing numerical error or instability if the scaling is too large. In this case we scale in the vertical direction by a factor of two.
1 Choose Mesh > Mesh Parameters and select the Advanced tab. Change the z-direction
scale factor to 2.0 and hit OK. Notice that the geometry has not changed - all sizes are still the same. The scaling is only is seen internally by the mesher.
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2 Choose the Initialize Mesh button. You should get about 900 elements.
SOLVE T HE TH ERMA L STRESS PRO BLEM
Before solving the thermal problem we may want to check how far the pogo pin is deflecting our disk. To do this let us temporarily change the overall temperature back to 0 and run a simulation
1 Choose Options > Constants and change the expression for Temperature to 0. Click OK. 2 Select the Solve button. 3 Choose Postprocessing > Plot Parameters and choose the Surface tab. Change the
predefined quantities field to Total displacement. Choose the Deform tab and check the checkbox next to Deformed Shape Plot. Uncheck the Auto box next to scale factor and enter a scale factor of 1. Click OK. The pogo pin is deforming the device 10 microns.
Knowing that the pogo-pin has minimal effect on the device, we now want to see the thermal deformation.
4 Choose Options > Constants and change the expression for Temperature back to 50.
Click OK.
5 Again select the Solve button.
If all goes the way the problem is rigged - You should get an error message: Damping factor too small. Returned solution not converged. What happened? This is a non-linear problem. If you are too far away from the correct solution, the solver is likely to have trouble converging. Our expected solution is non-linear buckled shape as opposed to the small deformation from the pogo pin. This is a fairly typical numerical problem with this class of simulation. To solve it we can use the parametric solver and ramp the temperature up from zero to our final value. The parametric solver (in its default setup) uses the previous parametric solution as the starting point for each subsequent run. All we need to do is to use a small enough parameter increment so that the change in deformation from one parametric solution to the next is not too great. This also is handled internally. The list of values we ask for is for data-output purposes. The parametric solver will attempt to keep the parameter change such that the solver keeps converging. Using the parametric solver both speeds convergence of each step and avoids the form of divergence we just experienced.
6 Choose Solve > Solver Parameters and change the solver back from Stationary NonLinear to Parametric NonLinear. Enter Temperature as the Name of Parameter
and 0:10:50 (MATLAB-like syntax meaning from 0 to 50 in steps of 10) as the List
of Parametric Values. Click OK. 7 Again select the Solve button. Now the overall deformation is 130 microns.
This models the deformation of our thermal actuator assuming that the entire structure is heated uniformly to 50 degrees above ambient. In actuality, the substrate will act like a heat sink and cool the rightmost end of our structure. Additionally, the source of heat for this structure is from electrical current passing through a resistor. Since the current originates at the center and fans out radially, the current and hence the thermal energy will drop as one moves from pogo-pin to ring support. It is probably prudent to run a quick check on the deformation if these two physical
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phenomena combine to have the temperature ramp from 50 above ambient at the center to 0 (ambient) at the outer edge of the ring. As a first order approximation - we can simply linearly ramp the temperature from 50 at r=0 to 0 at r=1.6e-3 (the outer ring surface. This equation is Temperature = Temp0*(1-625*r) , where Temp0 is the temperature at r=0.
8 Choose Options > Expressions > Scalar Expressions and enter Temperature as the
name and Temp0*(1-625*r) as the expression. Click OK. We now have two definitions of Temperature (three! counting the parametric solver). To avoid name conflicts, change the one in the Constants to Temp0.
9 Choose Options > Constants and change Temperature to Temp0. Click OK.
Finally, we need to change the parametric solver value from Temperature to Temp0 to ramp this from ambient to 50 degrees above ambient
1 0 Choose Solve > Solver Parameters and change Temperature to Temp0 (as the Name of Parameter). Leave 0:10:50 as the List of Parametric Values. Click OK. 1 1 Again select the Solve button. Now the overall deformation has reduced to 90
microns. This quick analysis, using FEMLABs ability to quickly create and evaluate expressions allows us to bound the real solution using just one physics. Fully coupled problems sometimes can be tricky to solve and can be slow to solve - due to the shear number of degrees of freedom in them. Further - many interacting physics can mask causality. A trick such as what we just used can give understanding to what is causing what.
ADD FULL ELECT RO -TH ERMA L C OUPLING
1 Select Multiphysics > Model Navigator and select Electromagnetics > Conductive Media DC, then hit Add. (Be sure to remember to hit Add!)
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2 Heat Transfer > Conduction > Steady State Analysis, then again hit Add. (Again - if you
do not hit Add - the equation wont be added!)
3 Click OK.
H E A T TR A N S F E R S E T U P
1 Select Multiphysics > Heat Transfer by Conduction to create the material properties
and boundary conditions for the heat transfer problem.

2 Select Physics > Subdomain Settings. Assign Material Properties as shown in the table
below. Note that Subdomains 3, 5 and 6 are all the same material (Silicon). Note the resistive coupling in subdomain 2. Here we are defining a heat source (Watts/ m^3) based on the square of the gradient of the Voltage times the reciprocal of the conductivity. See the theory discussion at the beginning of the problem for the development of this relation
SUBDOMAIN K RHO CP Q
201 148 163 190 16* 163
2700 1450 2330 2730 2330 2330
900 825 703 900 703 703
0 100*(Vr^2+Vz^2) 0 0 0 0
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Note: In this case, in the subdomain 5, we have artificially decreased the conduction coefficient by a factor of 10. This is a quick way to represent a much larger volume of substrate (10x larger) with a small rectangle. If we were also interested in the time-dependent problem, we would also need to scale Cp.
3 Select Physics > Boundary Settings . Choose the rightmost vertical boundary and
change the boundary condition from Thermal Insulation (the default) to

Temperature. Change the value of T0 to 0. 4 Select boundaries 9, 17, and 18 and change the boundary condition to Heat flux and
enter 10 as h, the heat transfer coefficient and leave Tinf at zero. Select OK.
5 Select Multiphysics > Axial Symmetry Stress-Strain (axi) to change the temperature in
the subdomain settings to the local (the by FEMLAB computed value) temperature.
6 Select Physics > Subdomain Settings... and select the Load tab. For each of the
subdomains change Temperature to T. Remember subdomain 5 does not include thermal expansion effects. Do this for subdomains 1,2,3,4, and 6. Click OK.
DC CONDUCTIVE SETUP
1 Select Multiphysics > Conductive Media DC (dc) to create the material properties and
boundary conditions for the electrical problem.

2 Select Physics > Subdomain Settings. Assign Material Properties to the as shown in the
table below. Be sure to uncheck the Active in this Domain checkbox for subdomains 3 through 6.
SUBDOMAIN ACTIVE IN THIS DOMAIN CONDUCTIVITY
Yes Yes No No No* No
3.03e7 100 0 0 0 0
3 Select Physics > Boundary Settings . The default boundary condition for DC
conductive media is grounded - not insulated. Thus we first need to change all the boundaries from grounded to insulated.
4 Select all the boundaries with Ctrl-A. Change Grounded to Insulated. Click Apply.
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5 Select boundary 2 (the bottom surface of the pogo-pin contact). Change the
boundary condition to Electric Potential. Enter Voltage for V0 (the electric potential). Click Apply.
6 Select boundary 19 (the right vertical surface of the resistive layer). Change the
boundary condition to Grounded.

SOLVE COUPLED PROBLEM
Finally, we solve the fully coupled problem. If we are not careful - we could easily have the same non-convergence problem that we experienced before. The solution then was to ramp up the temperature. Now we ramp the voltage.
1 Choose Solve > Solver Parameters and change Temp0 to Voltage (as the Name of Parameter). Change the List of Parametric Values to 0:2:20. Click OK. 2 Select the Solve button. Now the overall deformation corresponding to 20 volts is
127 microns.
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3 Select the Plot Parameters button. Select the Surface tab and change the Predefined quantitates field to Temperature. Click OK . Thus 20 volts leads to 56 degrees over
ambient.
4 Again select the Plot Parameters button. Select the Surface tab and change the Predefined quantitates field to Von Mises Stress. Click OK.
5 Finally select the Plot Parameters button one last time. Select the Animate tab and
highlight all the voltage solutions in the Solutions to Animate list. Select the Start Animate button.
6 Close the Animation window and choose OK to close the Plot Parameters window.
P L O T D I S P L A C E M E N T V S VO L T A G E
1 Depress the point button on the left vertical toolbar. Choose the vertex on the top
left of the disk in the graphics window (r=0, z=5.5e-5). Be sure to pick the
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undeformed outline - an x will appear on the vertex. By preselecting the point graphically, the correct coordinates will be entered into the point plot in the next step.
2 Choose Postprocessing>Cross-Section Plot Parameters. Choose the Point Plot radio
button.
3 Select the Point tab and change the Predefined quantities field to Total displacement.
Notice that the coordinate field is already filled in to r=0 and z=5.5e-5 by the graphical pick done in the previous step.
4 Select the General tab again and highlight all of the values in the Solutions to plot
field. These are all the voltages from 0 to 20 in 2 volt increments. Select OK to plot deflection of the center top of the disk vs applied voltage.
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E l ec t r os t ati c Co mb D riv e
Capacitive comb drives are commonly used both as actuators and as position sensors. When used as actuators, the electrostatic forces typically pull on a MEMs flexure to provide highly accurate position control. We will show how to calculate electrostatic forces later in this lesson. For this problem we concentrate on the other common usage of comb drives: position measurement. There are a number of approaches to positional measurement used in MEMs: changes in capacitance or inductance, optical approaches and others. Of these, capacitance measurement is the most widely used. There are a number of reasons for this, the interested reader is directed to references on MEMs devices. Comb-drive capacitive acutators and sensors consist of a series of interdigit fingers. Think of a pair of interdigiated combs in which the tines of one comb do not actually touch the tines of the other comb, but slide in and out relative to each other creating more or less overlap. MEMs combs typically have tines that are a few microns wide and 40-100 microns long. The gap between the interdigitated tines is normally 0.5 to 2 microns. The capacitance of the drives is typically first sized by approximating the 3D structure as many parallel-plate capacitors. This is a reasonable sizing approach if the structures are very tall compared to the gap and fringing of the electrostatic field is negligable. In most plated MEMs structures, this is not the case. In many cases the tine height is on the same order of size ast the tin width and gap between times - indeed, it can be smaller. In these cases, electrostatic fringing dominates the field and the parallel plate approximation may be quite inaccurate - even for sizing. In this case a quick 3D analysis of the electrostatic field can give a base capacitance that can be combined with the parallel-plate theory to provide considerable design information, even without the full force calculation. Additionally, the capacitance can be used in reduced-order electrical circuit models to model the electrical system as a whole.
Key Instructive Instruments

The key elements we hope you will learn in this example are Familiarity with a 3D electrostatics problem Geometry creation using the array button and extrusions Using the overall stored electric energy variable, We, to calculate capacitance.
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In this example the capacitance is solved for a fixed geometry. Using infomation from the later example, the Electrostatic Cantilever beam using ALE, you can learn how to solve this problem for a moving combrive.
Calculation of Capacitance
The capacitance, C, is related to the charge on the two conductive plates, Q, and the voltage across those plates by ---. C = Q V The energy required to charge a capacitor is given by the expression which should be equal to the energy of the electrostatic field, given by
2 1 Q - CU . W e = ------- = -2 2C 2
Using modeling, you can solve We from the electric field corresponding to the model geometry. It is calculated through the integral across the domain of D dot E 1 - ( D E ) d . W e = -2 Combining these equations, the capacitance, C, will be calculated from the stored electric energy, We, in the capacitor, and the voltage across the capacitor: 2We ( D E ) d - = ------------------------------ . C = ---------2 2 V V
Step-by-step Instructions
Comb drives are relatively easy to set up in FEMLAB. They typically consist of a series of interdigitated rectangles of exactly the same size. Thus we can create one rectangle and pattern it to create the tines of one comb. We can then copy, paste and move to create the second comb from the first. Finally, Electrostatic fields have only one degree of freedom per node: Voltage. Thus they do not tend to lead to huge system matricies and memory problems. This is not to say that you cannot make the problem too big but that it is reasonable to set up and expect quick solutions to reasonably complex 3D electrostatics problems.
ELECTROSTATIC COMB DRIVE
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S E L EC TIN G T HE AP P L IC ATIO N M ODE
Electrostatics problems can be solved using either the Electrostatics mode in FEMLAB or in Electromagnetics or MEMS Modules. The last two have additional tools for more challenging problems. For this example we use the Electromagnetics application mode from the MEMS Module.
1 Start FEMLAB, or if it is alraedy running, select File>New. 2 In the Model Navigator, set Space dimension to 3D and from the Application modes
tree select MEMS module>Electrostatics. To be sure you have the right application mode: The default Dependent variable should be named V and the default Application mode name should be esm.
3 Click OK.
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DRAWING THE GEOMETRY To draw the 3D geometry, we utilize so called work planes. That means, that we draw an initial cross-sectional geometry in 2D. And then we extrude it into 3D.
1 Select Draw>Workplane Settings. 2 In the dialog box, the default values are suitable for this model. This should be: the Quick tab selected, the x-y plane radio button selected, z=0, and the new geometry named Geom2. 3 Click OK to create and set the GUI to that workplane.
The problem will be solved using SI units (meters, seconds, Newtons, etc). Since the geometry is measured in microns, we will first enter the geometry as if the unit system was micrometers (in other words, without the e-6 after all numbers) and then, scale the entire geometry by 1e-6 to have it in SI units. This approach reduces the amount of typing and avoids the likely error of forgetting to include e-6 on one of the dimensions. Be sure to remember to scale the problem back to microns (there is an instruction step doing this) - else you will not be modeling a MEMS device!
4 Select Draw>Specify Objects>Rectangle (or shift-click the Rectangle/square tool) to
specify the dimensions of one tooth.

5 Specify a width of 40 and a height of 2 and leave the basepoint specified at the corner
and at 0, 0.
6 Click OK. 7 Click Zoom Extents. 8 Be sure the new rectangle is highlighted (is filled-in and pink) in the GUI and select
the Array button on the left, vertical toolbar.

9 Enter a y-displacement of 8 and an array size of 1 in the x-direction and 5 in the y-direction.
1 0 Select OK. 1 1 To see all rectangles, click the Zoom Extents button.
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1 2 Select all the rectangles by either box-selecting, or using Edit>Select All (ctrl-A). 1 3 Select Edit >Copy to copy all the rectangles and then select Edit>Paste to paste. 1 4 A dialog box for displacement of the copies opens. Enter 14 as the x-displacement
and 4 as the y-displacement.
1 5 Click OK. 1 6 Again select the Zoom Extents button. 1 7 De-select all rectangles. Then select the rectangle labeled R10 and delete it (hit the
delete button on the keyboard).
Now we have created the fingers of the combs. Next we create the spines of the combs and finalize the geometry.
1 8 Select Draw>Specify Objects>Rectangle (or shift-click the Rectangle/Square tool) to
specify the dimensions of the spine of the right hand comb.
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1 9 Specify a width of 10 and a height of 26 and set the basepoint corner and at x = 54
and y = 4.
2 0 Click OK. 2 1 Then select Draw>Specify Objects>Rectangle to specify the dimensions of the spine of
the right side comb.

2 2 Specify a width of 10 and a height of 34, and set the basepoint corner at x = -10 and y = 0. 2 3 Click OK.
Clicking Zoom extents shows the two combs formed of several rectangles.
2 4 To finalize the left comb select Create Composite Object from the vertical toolbar. 2 5 In the dialog box, clear the Keep interior boundaries check box. This keeps the
number of faces at minimum on extruding.
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2 6 From the Object selection, select R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5, and click Apply. This replaces
the rectangles with a composite object CO1.

2 7 Then select from the Object selection list the rectangles R6, R7, R8, R9 and R10,
forming the right side comb and click OK. This replaces the rectangles with a composite object CO2.
Finally, we draw the outline of the substrate and bounding airspace included in the analysis. In this case we extend the space 10 microns either side of the comb teeth.
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2 8 Select Draw>Specify Objects>Rectangle. Specify a width of 74 and a height of 54 and
set the basepoint corner and at x = -10 and y = -10.

2 9 Click OK.
In order to model a MEMS comb drive, we need to scale the geometry into micrometer units.
3 0 Select everything with Edit>Select All (crtr+A). 3 1 Select the Scale tool on the vertical toolbar or select Draw>Modify>Scale. Enter 1e-6
for x and 1e-6 for y.

3 2 Click OK and the Zoom extents.
/escd_step1.fl
Next extrude the geometry into 3D. First extrude the two combs and the air space in two steps, separately above and below the z=0 plane. In the 3D geometry we subtract the combs from the air. Therefore, what remais is only the air domain outside of the combs, where the electrostatic problem is solved.
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3 3 Select Draw>Extrude, and select only the two combs, CO2 and CO3. 3 4 Set the extrusion Distance to 2e-6 (remember the e-6 from now on!). 3 5 Make sure that Extruded in Geometry is set to Geom1 (the 3D space), and click OK. 3 6 The 3D geometry activates automatically. Select Zoom Extents in the 3D space. 3 7 Select the Geom2 tab at the top left corner of the graphics window to switch back
to the 2D window.
3 8 Extrude the airspace over and around the two combs. Select Draw>Extrude and
select the outer rectangle R1.

3 9 Set the extrusion Distance to 12e-6 (remember the e-6). Hit OK. 4 0 Subtract the combs from the airspace. Select Create Composite Object from the left
vertical toolbar.
4 1 In the Set formula field enter EXT3-(EXT1+EXT2). 4 2 Clear Keep interior boundaries and click OK. 4 3 Activate the 2D geometry and extrude the substrate under the two combs: Select Draw>Extrude and select the outer rectangle R1. 4 4 Set the extrusion Distance to -10e-6 (note that it is now negative!). 4 5 Click OK.
/escd_step2.fl
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SET BOUNDARY CONDITIONS AND SUBDOMAIN SETTINGS
Go through the following steps to set the boundary conditions for this model. The boundaries of the left hand comb are grounded, and boundaries of the right hand comb have a constant voltage. The combs lay on top of a block of silicon, but otherwise they are surrounded by air. The outer sides of the model box are insulated. First we define a constant, Voltage, that will be used on the right hand comb.
1 Select Options>Constants. In the first row, type Voltage in the Name column and 5
in the Expression colunm. Click OK. Next we continue with the boundary conditions.
2 Select Physics>Boundary Settings. The default value of the Boundary application
mode is Ground, which is the right selection for the left comb. To see what the default value is select any of the boundaries.
3 The right comb has boundaries 28-41, and 47-51. Select these boundaries from the
list using shift-selection and ctrl-selection. Then select the Boundary condition to Electric potential and type Voltage into the V0 field.
4 Click Apply. 5 The outside of the model consists of boundaries 1-5, 7, 12, 13, 52, and 53. Select
these from the list and set Boundary condition to Zero Charge/Symmetry.
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6 Select Physics>Subdomain Settings. 7 Select subdomain 1 and type 11.9 in the Relative permittivity field. Click Apply. 8 Select subdomain 2. The default value, 1, for the Relative permittivity is correct for
air.
9 Click OK.
/escd_step3.fl MESH THE MODEL AND SOLVE THE ELECTROSTATIC FIELD
1 Select the Initialize mesh button. 2 Select the Solve button to calculate the electrostatic field.
3 Select Postprocessing>Plot Parameters and select the Boundary page. 4 Select the Boundary Plot checkbox and see that the Predefined quantities is set to Electric Potential. click OK.
To look inside the system, we need to suppress the front boundaries blocking our view of the inside .
5 Select Options>Suppress>Suppress Boundaries. 6 Select boundaries 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 (the top air boundary, and the boundaries on the
front and right). Click OK.
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7 Select Postprocessing>Plot Parameters. 8 Select the Slice page and set x-levels to 1, y-levels to 0 and z-levels to 1. 9 Select the Streamline page and select the Streamline plot check box. 1 0 See that the Predefined quantities is set to Electric field and type 100 in the Number of start points field. 1 1 Click OK.
CALCULATE CAPACITANCE
Next use the equations from the introduction to calculate the capacitance. Select Postprocessing>Subdomain integration. Select subdomains 1 and 2. Type 2*We_esm/Voltage^2 in the Expression field and Click Apply or OK.
This calculates the capacitance and shows it in the message window below the graphics window. In this case, the result is 1.946512e-14, or 0.019 pF (piko-Farads).
/escd_step4.fl
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S o l vi n g E l ect ro s ta tic F or c e P ro b l ems

Introduction to the Lesson
At MEMs scales, electrostatic forces can be utilized to deflect or otherwise actuate structures. Electrostatic comb drives are a prime example of this. Another class of MEMs structures frequently actuated by electrostatic forces are thin cantilever beams. These are used for example as switches, optical redirectors The deflection of all these structures depends on the electrostatic forces distributed over the surface of the structure. That force is a function of both the gradient of the voltage potential and the surface charge on the structure. These stem from solutions to the electrostatic field. Unfortunately for us, the electrostatic force deflects the structure, which in turn changes the electrostatic field. Furthermore, the surface area the changes as a result for the deformation, which will change the the force on the sufrace. Hence the full problem involves a structural deformation on a standard structural problem, coupled to an electrostatic problem which is solved in a continuously deforming space. You need two tools to solve this coupled problem: The Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) method computes the new mesh and the electrostatic problem in the deforming geometry, and the Nansons equation takes care of the changes in the area and direction of the boundary. In the next version, that is, in FEMLAB 3.2, the ALE and Nansons equation are fully integrated within the gui, and you could activate them by simply selecting a check box in the subdomain settings dialog box. In the current FEMLAB, you can already use these techniques, although it needs some understanding on the topics, and you need to set up the problem using FEMLABs Weak Form application mode. This section gives two examples. In the first we set up the problem, compute the electrostatic field and forces for the initial geometry, and solve the deformation of the structure assuming that the boundary forces remain constants. In the second example, we set up the same problem using the ALE technique, and solve the problem in the true deformed geometry.
BO UN DA R Y FO RCES
When the electric and magnetic fields are present, boundaries of the solids experience forces. For stationary (non-time-varyin) case with the ambient pressure, the general relation for the force is
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1 -- H B n + ( n E ) D T + ( n H ) D T . -E D + 1 n T = p n -2 2 Here, n is the outward pointing normal vector, and the force is given as a force / area, that is, in the pressure units.
ELECTROSTATIC FORCES
For electrostatics and neglecting pressure terms this reduces to

T 1 - E D n + ( n E ) D n T = -2
Remember that the electric field for these problems is typically reduced to the gradient of of the voltage potential E = V For curved surfaces (indeed all surfaces) the electrostatic force can be calculated by defining boundary functions with these equations. Typically, MEMs boudaries are flat. In such cases the equation above can be simplified somewhat. As an example, let us examine the vertical forces on a horizontal surface in a 2D case (3D works the same). Here equation 1 - E D n + ( n E ) D T n T = -2 becomes Dx 1 1 1V - E D + 0 Ey - E D E y D y = -- ------D T y = -= -2 y y 2 y y 2 y y Dy One trick to this is the direction of the normal, which is assumed to be directed upwards in the above. The Electrostatics application mode in the MEMS Module includes an aplication variable nD_esm, which keeps track of the sign of this normal. Therefore, for flat surfaces the electrostatic force per unit area in x, y, and z direction can be written using the FEMLAB variable names as: Fes, x = 0.5*Vx*nD_esm
S OLV ING EL E CTROS TATI C FORCE PROB LE MS
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Fes, y = 0.5*Vy*nD_esm Fes, z = 0.5*Vz*nD_esm Remember, that these are only valid if the surfaces are not curved. If they are curved you need to use the full matrix equaton above. You can also open the equation, and with the constitutive relation D = r0E and with E = V the amplitude of the force can be written as
2 2 2 1 - ( V + Vy + Vz ) F es = -2 r 0 x
and it is directed along the outward normal of the boundary, which is given by the FEMLAB boundary variables nx, ny, and nz
REFERENCES
Senturia, Stephen, Microsystem Design, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001. pp 132-134.
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2 D E l ect r os t at ic Ca n tile ver

The first problem we will solve in this section is a simple 2D cantilever. This simple geometry will enable us to clearly show how to set such problems up and how to easily view the forces on surfaces.
Key instructive elements

The key elements we hope you will learn in this example are How to setup, solve and display electrostatic forces Linking electrostatic forces to structural deformation
Step-by-Step Instructions
MEMs cantilevers are typically thin, plated structures whose width is much larger than their thickness. Thus, from the structural point of view, if the cantilever is rectangular (which is typical), the deflection can be accurately represented using the 2D plane-strain equations. The electrostatic field is 3D with fringing effects on the outer edges of the cantilever. Depending on the width of the beam, these fringing feilds may or may not be important. In this first example, we assume that the cantilever is wide compared to its thickness and compared to the gap. Additionally, the electrode is aligned with the cantilever. Thus it is resonable to solve this problem as a 2D problem. Electrostatic forces are a non-linear calculation. They result from a product of two field variables. Both the electrostatic equations and the structural equations are normally linear. Therefore we need to be sure that we change the solver to nonlinear and change the solution form from coefficient to general later in the analysis. Or we can forsee that we will need a nonlinear approach and select a non-linear structural analysis from the start. Either is fine. Be aware though, if you forget to switch from linear to nonlinear, the forces will stay zero and no electrostatic deflection will occur.
SELECTING APPLICATION MODES
1 Start FEMLAB or if it is running, select File>New. 2 In the Model Navigator select 2D for the Space dimension. 3 In the Application Modes tree select MEMS Module>Plane Stress>Nonlinear static analysis. The default dependent variables are named u and v, and the default Application mode name is ps.
2 D E LE CT RO STA TIC CANT ILE VE R
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4 Click OK.
C REAT ING TH E GEOM EOT R Y
The problem will be solved using SI units (meters, seconds, Newtons, etc.). Because the geometry is measured in micrometers, we will first enter the geometry as if the unit system was micrometers. That is, we first give the dimensions for the geometry without the e-6 after each number, and then scale the entire geometry by 1e-6 to have it in SI units. The geometry consists of three rectangles. Their names and dimensions are in the table below.
Name Size Width Heigth Position Base x y
Corner 0 35 Corner 1500 0 Corner 0 0 2000 10 600 10 2400 300 R1 R2 R3
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1 Shift-click on the Rectangle/Square tool on the vertical toolbar to specify the
rectangles that form the geometry.
2 Click OK after defining each rectangle and repeat these steps for all rectangles. 3 After creating all rectangles click the Zoom Extents tool to show the drawing.
Next scale the whole geometry to its real micrometer size.

4 Select Edit>Select All (ctrl+A) to select all three rectangles. 5 Select the Scale tool from the left vertical toolbar. Enter 1e-6 in both the x and y Scale factor fields. Leave the Scale base point values to 0 and click OK . 6 To see the scaled geometry, click Zoom Extents.
The final geomety is given in the figure below.
/cantilever_step1.fl
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STRUCTURAL MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
1 Select Physics>Subdomain Settings. 2 Select the subdomain 1 and clear the Active in this domain check box. 3 Select subdomains 2 and 3 (the cantilever and the electrode) and click the Load
button next to the Library materials field.

4 Select Aluminium 303-H18 from the list and click OK. This adds the material to the
material library of the geometry and assigns it to the active subdomains.

5 Note that the thickness of the cantilever is 0.01 m by default. Click Apply.
This is a long cantilever and it has a fairly typical value of length to thickness of a MEMS cantilever. To engineers used to working at a more typical scale of cm or meters, such a beam can be expected to sag due to gravity. Thus it is prudent to include gravitational weight (which will prove to be a minor effect at this scale) just to check its effect. Weight is a volumetric force with units of Force/volume. For the weight calculation it is in the negative y direction and equal to the density times the accelleration due to gravity. Looking at the density field, the density of aluminum is 2730, and the accelleration due to gravity is 9.81. Thus the gravitational body load should be Fy = -2730*9.81.
6 Select subdomain 2 (the cantilever) and select the Load page. Type -2730*9.81 in
the Fy field and select the Body load is defined as force/volume using the thickness checkbox. Next define how the cantilever and the electrode are fixed to the surroundings.
7 Select Physics>Boundary Settings. 8 Select the boundaries 3, 8, 9, 10, and 12. In the Constrain page check the Rx and Ry
checkboxes. This will constrain the selected boundaries in both x and y direction.
9 Click OK.
/cantilever_step2.fl SOLVE THE GRAVITATIONAL DEFLECTION
1 Click the initialize mesh tool from the horizontal toolbar. You should ge about 3600
elements.
2 Click Solve.
The default postprocessing screen is a surface plot of von-Mises stress. (If you see an entirely blue field - including the air - you forgot to make the air inactive in the subdomain settings). However, we want to see the deflection of the cantilever.
3 Select the Postprocessing parameters button.
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4 In the dialog box select the Surface page. Change the Predefined parameters from
Von Mises stress to Total displacement and click OK. Looking at the red end of the colorbar we see that the tip deflection of the cantilever due to gravitational loading is about 9.3e-8 meters of 0.093 micrometers.
/cantilever_step3.fl ADD ELECTROSTATICS
Next add the electric part to the model.

1 Select Multiphysics>Model Navigator. 2 From the Application modes tree select MEMS>Electrostatics. The default string in
the Dependent variables field is V and the Application mode name is esm.
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3 Click Add. Only the Add button will add any new application modes to the model.
4 Click OK to close the Model Navigator.

ELECTRO ST ATI CS M ATER IAL PRO PER TI ES AN D BO UNDA R Y C ON DIT ION
1 Select Physics>Subdomain settings. 2 Select subdomains 2 and 3 (the cantilever and the electrode) and clear the Active in this domain checkbox. 3 Select subdomain 1 (the air region). Check that it is active and that the relative permittivity is 1 (appropriatie for air). 4 Click OK. 5 Select Physics>Boundary Settings. 6 Select boundaries 4, 6, and 11. These are the boundaries of the cantilever. Change
the boundary condition from Ground to Electric potential.

7 In the V0 field type Vbeam. We will define a variable named Vbeam, later. 8 Click Apply. 9 Select boundaries 1, 2, 5, 7, 13, and 14 (the air outer boundaries). Change the Boundary condition to Zero charge/Symmetry and click Apply. 1 0 Select boundaries 8, 10, and 12 (the lower electrode). Check that the Boundary condition is Ground. That is the default value.
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1 1 Click OK. 1 2 Select Options>Constants. 1 3 In the first row, type Vbeam in the Name column and 100 in the Expression column. 1 4 Click OK.
SOLVE THE ELECTRIC FIELD
1 Select Solve tool on the horizontal toolbar. This solves both application modes. 2 Select the Postprocessing parameters tool. 3 Select the Surface page. Change the Predefined parameters to Electric potential and
click OK.
/cantilever_step4.fl ADD ELECT RIC FO RC ES
1 Select Options>Expressions>Boundary Expression. 2 Select boundaries 4, 6, and 11. These are the air/beam interface surfaces. 3 In the first row type Fes_x in the Name column and -0.5*Vx*nD_esm in the
expression column. Click Apply.
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4 In the second row type Fes_y in the Name column and -0.5*Vy*nD_esm in the expression column. Click Ok.
5 Select Multiphysics>1 Plane Stress (ps) to switch to the structural settings. 6 Select Physics>Boundary settings. 7 Select the air/beam interface boundaries 4, 6, and 11. They are propably already
selected from the previous steps.

8 Select the Load page and type Fes_x in the Fx field and Fes_y in the Fy field. 9 Check the Edge load is defined as force/area using the thickness. 1 0 Click OK.
SO LVE ELECT RO STAT IC FORCE PRO BLEM
Next we solve the electrostatic problem and inspect the electrostatic forces using arrow plots on the beam/air interface boundaries.
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1 Select Solve. This solve both application modes. 2 Select the Plot Parameters tool and select the Arrow page. 3 Select the Arrow plot checkbox in the upper left. 4 Change the Plot arrows on target to Boundaries. 5 Under the Arrow data, select the Boundary tab (should be automatically active) and
type Fes_x in the x component field and Fes_y in the y component field.
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6 Click OK.
7 Select the Zoom Window tool and zoom into the tip end of the cantilever.
We can view the magnitude of the force with a boundary plot.

8 Select the Plot Parameters button and select the General page.
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9 Under the Plot type, clear the Surface plot check box and activate the Boundary check
box.
1 0 Select the Boundary page and type sqrt(Fes_x^2+Fes_y^2) in the Expression field
of the Boundary data.

1 1 Click OK.
The colorbar and the outline now shows the magnitude of the electrostatic force per unit area on the surface.
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Lo w- Vo lt age E l ect r oo sm ot ic Micr o pu mp

Micropumps, especially those based on electroosmotic flow (EOF), are becoming essential components in microfluidic lab-on-a-chip devices because they contain no moving parts and are relatively easy to integrate in microfluidic circuits during fabrication. One major drawback in the conventional design of electroosmotic micropumps is the use of a high driving voltage. Therefore, the development of a low-voltage cascade EOF pump is interesting because it could draw power from batteries and be suitable for portable devices (Ref. 1). This model, simulated in both 2D and 3D, shows how to use FEMLAB to study the electroosmotic flow described by the electroosmotic boundary velocity. The 3D model also shows FEMLABs ability to handle large models; it contains more than 400,000 degrees of freedom, and to solve the Navier-Stokes portion of the problem it requires more than 8 GB of memory. The model uses the Incompressible Navier-Stokes and the Electrostatics application modes, which are both part of the standard FEMLAB package.
Figure 2: Flow velocity distribution (color) and flow streamlines (red) inside the microchannels of a 3D electroosmotic pump model.
Introduction
When a polar liquid (such as water) and a solid (such as glass) come into contact, the solid surface acquires an electric charge, which influences the charge distribution within the liquid and causes a 2-layer charge distribution called the electric double
L O W - VO L T A G E E L E C T R O O S M O T I C M I C R O P U M P
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layer, or EDL (Ref. 2). The charges close to the wall are strongly drawn toward the surface, but the application of an electric field can change the charge distribution deeper in the fluid (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Schematic presentation of the electric double layer and the principle of electroosmotic flow. Because the thickness of the electric double layer is typically on the order of nanometers, you can model the electroosmotic flow velocity, ueof , as a boundary velocity u eof = eo f E = eo f V (11)
where eof is the fluids empirically obtained electroosmotic mobility, and E is the strength of the electric field tangential to the surface. Due to the fluids viscous force, all the fluid in the channel moves. To study the electroosmotic pumping effect, this discussion works with results published by A. Brask and others (Ref. 1) as well as Y. Takamura and others (Ref. 3). The original pump was designed to work as an effective pressure source for low applied voltages. The main idea is to connect multiple pumps in series to build up pressure (Figure 4). Each elementary pump consists of ten narrow channels followed by a wide single channel. The EOF in the narrow channel section acts as a high-pressure pump with a forward electric field. In the wide channel section the electric field is reversed, but here the induced back pressure is small compared to the pressure produced by the narrow channel section. After flowing through one such pump section, the accumulated voltage is zero while the electro-osmotically generated pressure maintains
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a net flow. This feature ensures a low operating voltage, which is an attractive feature that allows the pump to operate from batteries.
Figure 4: Top view of the low-voltage cascade EOF pump with three steps (adapted from Ref. 1 and Ref. 3).
Model Definition
The model geometry (Figure 5) contains only half of one pump section (Ref. 1). The flow pattern in the upper half of this section equals that in the lower half, thus reducing the geometrys complexity. In addition, the pump is symmetric about the channel depth, a fact that helps decrease the model size in 3D.
Figure 5: The 2D geometry. To more clearly show the dimensions, this diagram extends the aspect ratio in the y-direction. For modeling laminar steady-state flow (Stokes flow), set the density in the Navier-Stokes equation to zero thus giving
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( u + u ) + p = 0 u = 0 where u is the velocity, is the viscosity, and p is the pressure inside the fluid. The model uses the Normal Flow/Pressure boundary condition for the inlet and the Outflow/Pressure boundary condition for the outlets. To analyze the free-flow condition, there are no pressure gradients in the flow. The neutral boundary condition for the outlets would be more precise, but in practice it leads to numerical instabilities and less accurate results. In addition, a model can use the Inflow/Outflow boundary condition in parametric analysis to study the maximum back pressure against which the pump can operate. Equation 11 describes the electroosmotic velocity. The velocity boundary condition models the electroosmotic effect. You tie the velocity to the electric potential by using the tangential electric field components (VTx, VTy, and VTz) on the velocity components. This case models the electrode with the no-slip boundary condition, but it uses the slip/symmetry boundary condition in the 3D version in all upper-layer boundaries. The model uses a value of 0.001 Nsm2 (water) for the viscosity and 0.06 mm2 V1 s1 for the electroosmotic mobility. You can calculate the electric potential from 0 r V = 0 where 0 is the electric permittivity of a vacuum, and r is the materials relative electric permittivity. The modeler applies the electric potential (V0) boundary condition on the electrode and couples half of the applied voltage (V0/2) to the edges/boundaries of the channel ends. In all other boundaries, the model uses the symmetric/insulation boundary condition. Finally, the model uses a relative permittivity of 78.5 (water) in the subdomain, and it sets the applied voltage V0 to a constant 10 V.
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Results and Discussion

In both the 2D and 3D cases the flow streamlines show interesting curved behavior close to the electrode due to the increased electric field (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Flow streamlines in the 2D model (top) and 3D model (bottom).
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The shapes of the velocity profiles differ in the 2D and 3D cases (Figure 7), but for both the electroosmotic flow velocity on the surface of the wall has the same value.
Figure 7: The inlet (solid) and outlet (dashed) velocity profiles in 2D (top) and 3D (bottom). The velocity profiles in 3D are taken in the middle of the channels along the symmetry plane. Increasing the back pressure apparently decreases the influx; the graph intersects the zero influx line at 124 Pa. Multiplying this value by two gives the estimate for maximum back pressure as 248 Pa. The model performs the back pressure analysis only in 2D.
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Figure 8: Influx versus back pressure.
Modeling in FEMLAB
FEMLAB solves this model using the incompressible Navier-Stokes and Electrostatics application modes, both part of the standard FEMLAB package. Because the flow has no effect on the electric field, the model first solves for the electric potential and then uses that solution to solve the flow and pressure fields. The first solution for the total flux is rather inaccurate. Thus it is a good idea to refine the solution using weak constraints. The advantage of this option is that it computes the fluxes very accurately; for more information on this topic, see Chapter 8, Analysis Guide, of the FEMLAB Users Guide in the section on weak constraints. Finally, this example uses a parametric study to find the maximum back pressure against which the pump can operate. For this analysis you add a global integration variable that calculates the flux over the inlet channel, then plot it against the applied back pressure.
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References
1. A. Brask, G. Goranovic and H. Bruus, Theoretical analysis of the low-voltage cascade electroosmotic pump,| Sens. Actuators B Chem. , vol. 92, 2003, pp. 127-132. 2. N.-T. Nguyen and S.T. Wereley, Fundamentals and Applications of Microfluidics, Artech House, 2002. 3. Y. Takamura, H. Onoda, H. Inokuchi, S. Adachi, A. Oki and Y. Horiike, Low-voltage electroosmosis pump for stand-alone microfluidics devices, Electrophoresis, vol. 24, 2003, pp. 185-192.
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Modeling Using the Graphical User Interface (2D)

MO DE L N AV IG AT OR
1 In the Model Navigator select the New tab. 2 In the Space Dimensions list select 2D. 3 Click the Multiphysics button. 4 From the Application Modes list select FEMLAB>Fluid Dynamics>Incompressible Navier Stokes, then click Add. 5 From the Application Modes list select FEMLAB>Electromagnetics>Electrostatics, then
click Add.
6 Click OK.
OPTIONS AND SETTINGS
1 From Options menu select Constants. 2 In the resulting dialog box enter these names and expressions; when done, click OK .
NAME EXPRESSION
V0 mu_eo Pressure GEOMETRY MODELING
10 0.06*(1e-3)^2 0
1 Shift-click the Rectangle/Square button on the Draw toolbar on the left side of the
user interface and create the following rectangles:

R1 R2 R3 R4
Width Height X Y
50e-6 630e-6 -25e-6 0
405e-6 200e-6 -25e-6 430e-6
185e-6 230e-6 195e-6 400e-6
5e-6 400e-6 195e-6 0
2 Click the Zoom Extents button on the Main toolbar.
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The geometry before creating the array of narrow channels.

3 Select R4, then click the Array button on the Draw toolbar. 4 In the resulting dialog box, go to the Displacement area; for x enter 20e-6, and for y enter 0. In the Array size area, for x enter 10, and for y enter 1. Click OK.
The geometry after creating the array of channels.

PHYSICS SETTINGS
Subdomain SettingsConductive Media DC 1 From the Multiphysics menu select Electrostatics.

2 From the Physics menu select Subdomain Settings. 3 Select all subdomains (press Ctrl+A). 4 In the r edit field enter 78.5. 5 Click OK.
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Boundar y ConditionsConductive Media DC 1 From the Physics menu select Boundary Settings.
2 Select all the boundaries (press Ctrl+A), then in the Boundary condition list select Zero Charge/Symmetry. Click Apply. 3 In the Boundary selection list choose 16. In the Boundary condition list select Electric potential, then in the V0 edit field for the Electric potential enter V0. 4 Select the inlet and all outlet boundaries (boundaries 2, 11, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60). Note that it is easier to select all these boundaries with the mouse. Again
change the Boundary condition to Electric potential, but in the V0 edit field for the Electric potential enter V0/2.
5 Click OK.
Subdomain SettingsIncompressible Navier-Stokes 1 From the Multiphysics menu select Incompressible Navier-Stokes.
2 From the Physics menu select Subdomain settings. 3 Select all the subdomains (press Ctrl+A). 4 In the edit field for Density enter 0, and in the edit field for Dynamic viscosity
enter 0.001.
5 Click OK.
Boundar y ConditionsIncompressible Navier-Stokes 1 From the Physics menu select Boundary Settings.
2 Select the inlet (boundary 2). In the Boundary condition list select Normal flow/ Pressure. Verify that the Pressure, p0, has a value of 0.
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3 Select all outlet boundaries (11, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60). Change the Boundary condition to Outflow/Pressure. In the p0 edit field for Pressure enter
Pressure.
4 Select boundary 16 (the upper electrode), and in the Boundary condition list select No slip. 5 For all the other channel walls (1, 3, 5, 6, 8-10, 12, 17-19, 22-24, 27-29, 32-34, 37-39, 42-44, 52-54, 57-59, and 62-64) change the Boundary condition to Inflow/Outflow velocity. In the u0 edit field for the x-velocity enter mu_eo*(-VTx), and in the v0 edit
field for the y-velocity enter mu_eo*(-VTy).

6 Click OK.
MESH GENERATION
1 From Mesh menu select Map Mesh. 2 Click the Boundary tab. For all of the boundaries in the following table, select the Constrained edge element distribution check box, then enter a value in the Number of edge elements edit field as in the table. Note that the boundaries in the last row are all in the same line at the upper end of the narrow channels; you can select all of them most easily with the mouse.
BOUNDARY NUMBER OF EDGE ELEMENTS
3 4 8 13, 18, 21, 23, 26, 28, 31, 33, 36, 38, 41, 43, 46, 48, 51, 53, 56, 58, 61
7 20 40 14
3 Click Remesh, then click OK. The mapped quad mesh consists of 4168 elements.
COMPUTING THE SOLUTION
1 From the Solve menu select the Solver Manager. 2 Click the Solve For tab. From the Solve for variables list select Electrostatics. 3 Click the Initial Value tab. In the Initial value area select the Initial value expression
button, and in the Value of variables not solved for area select the Zero button.
4 Click Solve. Doing so should result in roughly 57,300 degrees of freedom, and the
solution time should be a couple of seconds.

5 In the Value of variables not solved for area select the Current solution button.
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6 Click the Solve For tab. In the Solve for variables list select Incompressible Navier-Stokes. 7 Click Solve. The solution time for this part of the model solution should be roughly
four times longer than for the electrostatics part.

8 Click OK.
PO S TP R OC E S S I NG AN D V I SU A L I ZAT I O N
First study the velocity-field distribution inside the pump using surface and streamline plots together.
1 From the Postprocessing menu select Plot Parameters. 2 Click the General tab. In the Plot type area select the Surface and Streamline check
boxes, then clear all the others.

3 Click the Surface tab. In the Surface data area, go to the Predefined quantities list and
select Velocity field.

4 Click the Streamline tab. In the Streamline data area, go to the Predefined quantities
list and select Velocity field. In the Streamline starting points area check the Specify number of start points button, and in the Number of start points edit field enter 50.
5 While still in Streamline page, click the Advanced button. In the Maximum number of integrations steps edit field enter 1000. Click OK. 6 Click OK.
Plot of velocity-field distribution inside the electroosmotic pump.
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Next use domain plots to analyze the inlet and outlet velocity profiles.
1 From the Postprocessing menu select Domain Plot Parameters. 2 Click the General tab. 3 Click the Title/Axis button at the bottom of the dialog box. Go to the Axis settings for line and point plots area. Next to the label First axis label select the option button
next to the empty edit field, then enter the text Channel width. Click OK.
4 Select the Keep current plot check box at the bottom of the dialog box; this example
uses this feature to show the inlet and outlet profiles in same diagram.
5 Click Line/Extrusion tab. 6 In the Plot type area select the Line plot button. From the Boundary selection list
select 2.
7 In the y-axis data area, go to the Predefined quantities list and select y-velocity. 8 In x-axis data area, click the Expression option button, then click the associated Expression button. In the Expression edit field enter s (it is a predefined variable for the normalized distance along the boundary). Click OK. 9 Click Apply. 1 0 From Boundary selection list select 11. 1 1 Click the Line Settings button at the bottom of the dialog box. In the Line style list
select Dashed line. Click OK.

1 2 Click OK.
Next study the total fluxes through the inlet and outlets.
1 From the Postprocessing menu select Boundary Integration. 2 In the Boundary selection list select 2.
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3 Go to the Expression to integrate area. In the Expression edit field enter

(-nx*u-ny*v)*1e12*20e-6; doing so gives results in nanoliters (1 nl = 1e-9*1e-3 m3). The constant 20e-6 is the structures thickness, while -nx and -ny are the xand y-direction components of the normal vector pointing inward (nx and ny point outwards).
4 Click Apply.
This setup should result in a value of 0.219 nl, a value that appears in the log window at the bottom of the user interface. Now check the total flux through the outlets.
5 Select the outlet boundaries with the mouse (boundaries 11, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60). 6 Click Apply.
The resulting value of -0.622 differs considerably from the value for the inlet. You can evaluate all the other boundaries and observe that due to numerical inaccuracies the walls leak somewhat. Next refine the solution using weak constraints and compare the results. Computing the refined Solution using weak constraints
1 From the Multiphysics menu select Incompressible Navier-Stokes. 2 From the Physics menu select Properties. In the resulting dialog change the Weak constraints to Ideal. Click Ok. 3 From the Solve menu select the Solver Manager. 4 Select the Initial Value tab. 5 In the Initial value area select the Current solution option button to use the current
solution as the initial value for the weak-constrained problem.

6 Click Solve. 7 Click OK.
You can repeat the postprocessing and visualization steps and compare the new inlet and outlet fluxes to the values obtained without weak constraints. The new values are 0.636 nl s1 for the inlet and 0.622 nl s1 for the outlets. FINDING THE MAXIMUM BACK PRESSURE
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Finally make a parametric study whereby you change the back pressure, and the model obtains the maximum back pressure from a plot of flux vs. pressure. Start by defining a global integration variable for the influx.
1 From Options menu select Integration Coupling Variables>Boundary Variables. 2 In the Boundary selection list select 2. 3 In the Name edit field enter Influx, and in the Expression edit field enter
(-nx*u-ny*v)*1e12*20e-6, the same expression already used for the flux studies.
4 Click OK. 5 From the Solve menu select Solver Parameters. 6 In the Solver list select Parametric linear, and in the and in the Solution form list select General. 7 Go to the Parameter area. In the Name of parameter edit field enter Pressure, and
in the List of parameter values edit field enter 0:10:200.

8 Click OK. 9 Click the Solve button on the Main toolbar. The solution of the parametric study
might take several minutes. Next create a plot.

1 0 From the Postprocessing menu select Domain Plot Parameters. 1 1 Click the Point tab. 1 2 In the Point selection list choose 1; you could select any point because the
integration variable Influx is defined everywhere in the model.

1 3 Go to the y-axis data area, and in the Expression edit field enter Influx. 1 4 If you previously changed the axis titles, then change them back for this plot. Select
the General tab.

1 5 Click the Title/Axis button. Next to the First axis label text select the Auto button,
then click OK.
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1 6 Click OK. By zooming into the plot you can obtain the influx changes backwards
around 124 Pa. Because the model contains only half of the geometry, the actual maximum back pressure would be approximately twice this value.
Figure 9: Influx versus back pressure.
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MEMS Modeling Course

MEMS Modeling Course

The COMSOL team

Th er ma l Bila yer V alve

Key Instructive Elements

Step by Step Instructions

T HE R MAL BIL AYER VALVE

C REAT ING TH E GEOM ETR Y

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

1900 1900 1900 250 300 1400

10 30 0 -20 -200 -400

Note: Do not skip this step!

T HE R MAL BIL AYER VALVE

EN TERI NG T HE MEC HA NIC AL PRO PER TIES

69e9 150e9 131e9 80e9 131e9 131e9

0.33 0.33 0.27 0.30 0.27 0.27

23.4e-6 0.8e-6 4.15e-6 250e-6 4.15e-6 4.15e-6

2700 1450 2330 2730 2330 2330

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

value of 2e6 for the pressure in the vertical direction.

T HE R MAL BIL AYER VALVE

C REAT ING TH E M ESH

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

SOLVE T HE TH ERMA L STRESS PRO BLEM

T HE R MAL BIL AYER VALVE

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

T HE R MAL BIL AYER VALVE

do not hit Add - the equation wont be added!)

and boundary conditions for the heat transfer problem.

201 148 163 190 16* 163

2700 1450 2330 2730 2330 2330

900 825 703 900 703 703

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

change the boundary condition from Thermal Insulation (the default) to

boundary conditions for the electrical problem.

Yes Yes No No No* No

T HE R MAL BIL AYER VALVE

boundary condition to Grounded.

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

T HE R MAL BIL AYER VALVE

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

Key Instructive Instruments

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

ELECTROSTATIC COMB DRIVE

S E L EC TIN G T HE AP P L IC ATIO N M ODE

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

specify the dimensions of one tooth.

the Array button on the left, vertical toolbar.

ELECTROSTATIC COMB DRIVE

and 4 as the y-displacement.

delete button on the keyboard).

specify the dimensions of the spine of the right hand comb.

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

the right side comb.

number of faces at minimum on extruding.

ELECTROSTATIC COMB DRIVE

the rectangles with a composite object CO1.

CHAPTER 1: MEMS MODELING COURSE

2 8 Select Draw>Specify Objects>Rectangle. Specify a width of 74 and a height of 54 and

set the basepoint corner and at x = -10 and y = -10.

for x and 1e-6 for y.

ELECTROSTATIC COMB DRIVE