Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

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Finite Elements in Analysis and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/finel

Design considerations of a large-displacement multistable micro actuator

with serially connected bistable elements
Y. Gerson a, S. Krylov a,n, B. Ilic b, D. Schreiber a
a
b

School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel
School of Applied and Engineering Physics and Cornell Nanoscale Facility, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 16 June 2011
Received in revised form
30 June 2011
Accepted 1 July 2011
Available online 23 September 2011

In this work we report on a nite element modeling and design methodology, fabrication and
characterization of a large-displacement low voltage multistable micro actuator with an integrated
electrostatic comb drive transducer. The compliant suspension of the device incorporates multiple
serially connected bistable arch-shaped beams and exhibits controllable sequential snap-through
buckling under an increasing actuation force. The device can be considered therefore as an example of a
compliant multistep structure. The device is also distinguished by its ability to remain in several
different stable congurations at the same actuation voltage while the forcedisplacement characteristic of the suspension can be tailored by changing the geometry parameters of the exures. A model
built using the shallow arch approximation along with a nonlinear nite element analysis were used in
order to study the inuence of the suspension architecture on the stability limits of the structure and
for evaluation of design parameters of the actuator. Bistable and multistable devices were fabricated by
a Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) based process using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. Experimental
results, which are consistent with the model predictions, demonstrate that the compliant multistep
devices exhibit improved lateral stability and consequently larger stable displacements compared to
the conventional comb drive actuators. Stable displacements up to 80 mm at a voltage of 30 V were
registered in the experiments while three snap-through and snap-back events took place during
loading and unloading, respectively. Our computational and experimental results show that the
suggested device has clear functional advantages and can be efciently used in applications including
switches, threshold inertial sensors, variable optical attenuators as well as in micro-and nanomechanical logical elements.
& 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Large-displacement actuator
Finite element analysis
Multistability
Multistep
Snap-through buckling
Pull-in
Comb drive

1. Introduction
Bistability and multistability, namely, the existence of two or
several different stable congurations at the same loading, is an
intrinsic feature of many mechanical structures. This behavior
typically originates from the geometric nonlinearity of the structure resulting in a non-monotonous stiffnessdisplacement characteristic. One of the most common examples is a exible arch
loaded by a transverse force [13], Fig. 1(a). This structure is
bistable in the interval of the force between the snap-back
(release) and snap-through values (see Fig. 1(b)). The analysis of
structures liable to snap-through buckling, mainly arches, frames,
cylindrical panels and spherical caps, is a well-established topic in
structural mechanics [15].

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: vadis@eng.tau.ac.il (S. Krylov).

0168-874X/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.nel.2011.08.021

In microsystems, bistability is benecial in many applications

including electrical [6,7] and optical [8] switches, optical attenuators [9], inertial sensors [10], light processing devices, tactile
displays [11] and nonvolatile memories [1214]. A large variety of
architectures and operational principles of bistable micro devices
were reported. Elastic suspensions in bistable micro devices were
typically realized as chevron-shaped rigid links combined with
compliant pseudo-hinges [7,1517]. Designs incorporating fully
compliant suspensions realized as initially curved or tilted beams
were reported as well ([6,8,1823]). Actuation was done manually
by probe [16,22,24] or provided by thermal [18,19,23,24] electrostatic comb drive [15,20,21,25] or magnetic [8,26] transducers.
Note that in all cases listed above the actuation force was
independent on the actuators displacement and the nonlinearity
was purely of a mechanical nature. Signicant attention was paid
to the theoretical and experimental analysis of static and dynamic
behavior of fully compliant bistable micro beams [2433]. Note
that recently reported electrostatically actuated bistable devices
may exhibit both mechanical snap-through and electrostatic (so

Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

59

Fig. 1. An arch loaded by a transverse force in a pre-buckling and post-buckling conguration (a) and schematics of a corresponding limit point buckling curve (b).
Operational principle of the device-schematics of a device incorporating multiple serially connected bistable beams (c) and a generic limit point buckling curve (d).

called pull-in) instabilities [2833]. The reason is that these

devices combine both geometric mechanical nonlinearity originating in an initially curved shape of the beams and electrostatic
softening nonlinearity associated with the electrostatic force that
reduces the effective stiffness of the structure.
The concept of the device considered in this work is based on a
serial connection of multiple mechanically bistable curved beams,
each attached to a rigid frame, Fig. 1(c). Since different elements
of this chain of bistable elements are designed to exhibit a
dissimilar snap-through force, a sequence of snap-through events
takes place under an increasing force applied to the last element,
as shown in Fig. 1(d). The forcedisplacement curve of the
structure contains several stable branches and the device is
actually a fully compliant multistep structure. By adjusting the
geometrical parameters of the curved beams forming the compliant suspension, the shape of the limit point buckling curve can
be tailored in a wide range. For appropriately chosen parameters,
the device may remain in several different stable congurations
at the same actuation voltage. The ability to tailor the stability
properties of the actuator is one of the distinguishing features of
the device under consideration.
It should be noted that the idea to obtain a multistable behavior
by means of serial connection of bistable elements is not new.
Results of theoretical investigation of the static and dynamic
behavior of chains of bistable elements as well as wave propagation in these systems (often viewed as waves of phase transition)
were largely reported in applied mechanics literature (e.g. see
[3440]). Possible design realizations, design methodology and
synthesis of multistable compliant mechanisms using combinations of bistable elements were discussed in [41]. In microsystems,
reported multistable devices mainly incorporated mechanical
latching (ratchet-type) elements (e.g., see [9,42]). Tri-stable microfabricated device based on a bi-directional (double tensural)
operation was reported in [43]. The device included an assembly
of oblique beam-like suspension springs and was operated
mechanically by a micro manipulator. A tri-stable mechanism with
bi-directional operation actuated by a electroactive polymeric
actuator (aritical muscle) was reported recently in [44]. The
fully compliant multistable device with the suspension incorporating serially connected bistable elements and with integrated
electrostatic actuation was rst reported in [45].
In this work we present the design, fabrication and characterization of the device. The main focus is on the nite element

Fig. 2. Model of a curved beam.

modeling and design aspects of the device development. In the

next section, the model of the generic device based on a shallow
curved beam serving as a single bistable element of the suspension is considered. Main features of the device stability behavior
are illustrated and the applicability of the shallow beam model is
discussed. Next, several design congurations of the device are
introduced and results of nite element analysis of these congurations are presented. We show that the lateral (pull-in)
instability of the electrostatically actuated structure represents
the main design challenge in this kind of device and requires
careful design and nite element modeling. Finally, we present
the results of the device fabrication and characterization illustrating the feasibility of the suggested approach. Conclusions
summarize the main ndings of the work.

2. Computational model
2.1. Curved beam
In order to provide an insight into the inuence of different
parameters on the stability properties of a curved beam and
choose the design parameters, the most suitable for the control of
the multistable behavior, we rst consider a model of a single
initially curved beam, Fig. 2.
We consider a exible, initially curved, prismatic micro beam
of length L, of a rectangular cross-section of area Ab  d and
second moment of the area Iyy bd3 =12. The initial shape of the
beam is described by the function z0 x hc0 x (for convenience
it is considered positive in the negative direction of the z-axis,
Fig. 2) where h is the initial elevation of the central point of the
beam about its ends and c0 x is a non-dimensional function such

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Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

that max fc0 xg 1. Hereafter we consider a beam of a circular

0oxoL

shape and adopt

v

u
 
 2 !2  2 
2
1 1 L 2 1u
L
L
2x
t
1
c0 x 


1
2 8 h
2
2h
h
L

We emphasize that the initial curved shape of the beam is

provided by lithography rather than by a pre-buckling. As a
result, the beam is stress-free in its initial conguration. The
beam is assumed to be made of homogeneous isotropic linear
elastic material with Youngs modulus E. Both ends of the beam
are clamped. The beam is actuated by a concentrated force F
acting at the midpoint of the beam in the z-direction (see Fig. 2).
We describe the behavior of the beam using two approaches.
In the framework of the rst approach, the beam is considered
using the EulerBernoulli theory combined with the shallow arch
approximation. This simple model is convenient for the evaluation of the preliminary design parameters of the suspension. In
addition, the results provided by this model will be used for the
comparison with the nite element results. We assume that
d 5 L, h 5 L and that the deections, while comparable with the
thickness of the beam, are small with respect to the beams
length. The equilibrium of the beam is described by the system of
two differential equations (e.g., [3,46], see also [30]).

0
1
0
EA u0 hc0 w0 w0 2 0
2




0
1
L
0
0
IV
2
F d x
EIw EA hc0 w0 u0 hc0 w0 w0 2
2
2
here w(x) is the lateral displacement; u(x) is the axial displacement, dx is the Dirac delta and 0 d=dx. Eq. (2) is completed by
the boundary conditions corresponding to the clamped ends of
the beam. Note that in all the devices considered in this work, the
anstisymmetric buckling is precluded by the design means.
Namely, the beams are used in pairs such that two identical
beams are connected at their midpoints by a rigid link (see [22]).
For this reason in this section we consider only the half of the
beam and enforce symmetry conditions w0 0, EIyy w000 F=2 at
the midpoint of the beam (see [30] for the details).
The system of Eq. (2) was solved numerically. The solution is
based on the collocation method [47] and is obtained using the
two-point boundary value problem solver bvp4c [48] integrated
into the Matlab package. The system (2) is written in the form of
six rst order differential equations
y0 fy,F

3
0

00

000 T

where y fu,u ,w,w ,w ,w g is the vector of unknown functions

and F is considered as a parameter. In order to describe the
unstable branches of the buckling curve, the displacement control

approach is implemented (see [49] for the case of congurationdependent electrostatic force). The force F is considered as an
unknown parameter while the midpoint deection of the beam is
prescribed, i.e., wL=2 wM .
In addition, the stability of the beam was analyzed using the
nite element method by means of the commercially available
software. The planar straight beam element with an extensible
axis, three nodal degrees of freedom (two translations and one
rotation) and Hermitian polynomials as interpolation functions
was used. The element could also account for the shear deformation of the beam. Note however that the inuence of the shear
deformation on the behavior of very slender beams considered in
this work is minimal. To enforce clamped boundary conditions,
the translation in the x and z directions as well as the rotation of
the end nodes of the nite element model were precluded. The
calculations were performed using the large deection analysis.
The unstable branches of the limit point buckling curves were
described using force control combined with the arc-length
continuation method (e.g. see [50]) implemented in the commercially available software. The parameters of the arc-length procedure were chosen by trial and error in such a way that the
entire buckling curve was obtained. A total number of 200 force
increments in the nonlinear solution was used. The mesh was
rened until convergence. The results presented hereafter correspond to the convergent solution and to the beam subdivided into
80 elements. Hereafter in this section the width and the thickness
of the beam used in calculations were b30 mm and d3 mm,
respectively, Youngs modulus was E 169 GPa.
The results of calculations are shown in Fig. 3. Comparison
between the shallow beam model, Eq. (2) and the nite element
solution is shown in Fig. 3(a) for three different elevations. Excellent
agreement between the two models is observed. For h10 mm the
relative error in the snap-through value of the force was 0.38%. We
attribute the certain discrepancy mainly to the approximate character of the shallow beam model, which disregards the nonlinear
curvature of the beam. A graphical representation of the curved
beam during the loading is shown in Fig. 3(b).
In accordance with Fig. 3(b), each of the elements of the
multistable suspension should exhibit bistable behavior while
the value of the critical force corresponding to the snap-through
instability should be different for each of the beams. Generally
speaking, for the prescribed initial shape and material of the
clamped arch, the forcedisplacement characteristic of the beam
can be controlled by three parametersthe initial elevation, the
thickness and the length of the beam. It is well known that
the beam described by Eq. (2) is bistable when the ratio between
the initial elevation of the beam and its thickness is higher than a
certain value. In accordance with [2], in the case of a beam with a
rectangular cross-section, the snap-through takes place when the

Fig. 3. (a) Limit point buckling curves of an arch-shaped beam for different initial midpoint elevations h (numbers, in mm). The length of the beam is L 1000 mm. Solid line
corresponds to the shallow beam model, Eq. (2); markers represent the numerical nite element solution. (b) Snapshots of the beam at different actuation forces for
h 6 mm.

Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

p
ratio m d=h 3 o0:42, which corresponds to h 4.13 mm in the
case of 3 mm thick beam (for the case of an initially sinusoidal
arch the value of mo0.4 was obtained in [51] using the two-term
modal expansion solution). Since the bistability criterion is
independent of the length and is very sensitive to the width and
thickness, the buckling behavior of the arch can be controlled by
choosing appropriate values of h (see Fig. 3(a)) and/or d. However,
for microstructures, both h and especially d can be very uncertain
due to low tolerances of micromachining. The structures considered in this work are fabricated from single crystal silicon using
deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). In the framework of this process,
thin (typically a few micrometers) beams are surrounded by large
open area and may suffer from signicant over etch. As a result,
the actual thickness of the beams is usually smaller than the
nominal value. Although corrections (bias) of the nominal dimensions could be made at the design stage in order to account for
possible over etch, in view of sensitivity of the buckling force to
the thickness, the uncertainty originates from the lack of repeatability and uniformity of the process is still high. Uncertainty in
the initial elevation is related to small residual stress or stress
gradients appearing in the bonded silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
wafers as well as to possible variations in temperature (see [21]
and references therein). In view of the aforementioned, in this
work we keep the thickness and the elevation of each of the
beams forming the suspension to be constant and use the
length of the beam to tailor the forcedeection characteristic
of the beam.
2.2. Multistable suspensiona chain of curved beams
The solution for a single beam was used as a building block for
the description of the multistable suspension incorporating
multiple serially connected bistable elements. Hereafter we refer
a suspension as multistable or multistep if the corresponding
limit point buckling curve contains several different (not adjacent) stable branches. A nite element solution was obtained
similarly to the case of the single beam, namely using a nonlinear
large deection analysis combined with the arc-length procedure.
To enforce boundary conditions, translation in the x-direction as
well as the rotation of the end nodes were precluded whereas the
translations in the z-direction were released. The beams were
connected by rigid links in such a way that the compliance of the
system was associated solely to the compliance of the beams.
The solution based on the shallow arch model was obtained
using the following procedure. First, the dependence between the
force and the midpoint deection was obtained separately for
each of the beams distinguished by different length. The displacement control procedure was used and the prescribed increments
of the midpoint displacements are taken to be identical for each of

61

the beams. However, since the beams are of dissimilar length, the
values of the forces corresponding to these displacements are
different for each beam. On the other hand, within the suspension
the beams are connected serially and, from the equilibrium
considerations, the force acting on each of the bistable elements
of the chain is the same. To overcome this difculty, the table
look up approach was used and the forcedisplacements characteristic for each of the beams was approximated using a
polynomial t F i Pni wi
M . Here n is the order of the polynomial
(in most cases seventh order polynomial was used) and
wi
M , i 1::N is the midpoint deection of the ith beam. Next, in
the framework of the displacement control approach, the displacement wA of the end point of the suspension (hereafter
referred to as an actuator displacement) was prescribed, and
the midpoint displacements wi
M , i 1::N of each of the beams
along with the force were found as the solutions of the system of
N 1 nonlinear algebraic equations
Pni wi
M F 0
N
X
wi
M wA 0

i1

The limit point buckling curves of the separate beams are shown
in Fig. 4(a), the limit point buckling curve of the suspension
assembled from four beams is shown in Fig. 4(b). The length of
the beams is L 700 mm, 800 mm, 900 mm and 1000 mm, the initial
elevation of all the beams is h8 mm and the width of the beams is
d 2.7 mm. One observes that, as a result of the serial connection of
the beams, the snap-through values of the chain are identical to
critical values of the individual beams whereas the corresponding
displacements are larger in the chain. Fig. 4(b) illustrates also the
robustness of the suspension to the uncertainty in the beams width.
One observes that while the critical values of the forces are strongly
affected by the beams width, the bucking behavior is qualitatively
preserved and the sequential snap-through can be achieved in the
suspensions with uncertain geometric parameters. Note that the
device can be viewed as multistable in a sense that it may have
several overlapping or non-overlapping bistability regions. A comparison between the results obtained using the shallow beam model
and the nite element analysis revealed very good agreement
between the two. In the considered example, the error in the
snap-through value of the force corresponding to the highest limit
point of the multistable chain was 0.4%.
One of the central advantages of the suspension conguration
considered in the present work is the ability to control the force
displacement curve in a very large range by choosing the appropriate values of the beams parameters. Examples of the limit
point buckling curves corresponding to different geometrical
parameters of the beams are presented in Fig. 5 where the limit

Fig. 4. (a) Limit point buckling curves of an arch-shaped beam for different length L(numbers, in mm) and the midpoint elevation h 8 mm. (b) The limit point buckling
curve of the multistable suspension assembled from four bistable beams. Nominal width of the beam is d 3 mm; dashed and dotted lines correspond to the width of the
beam of d 3.3 mm and d 2.7 mm, respectively.

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Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

Fig. 5. (a) Limit point buckling curves of the multistep suspension assembled from four bistable beams-nite element solution. The lengths of the beams is L 750 mm,
820 mm, 900 mm, 1000 mm and the midpoint elevation is h 5 mm. Inset illustrates the suspension stiffness increase at larger forces. (b) Limit point buckling curves of the
multistable suspension. The length of the beams is L 850 mm, 900 mm, 950 mm, 1000 mm and the midpoint elevation is h 15 mm. Dashed lines illustrate the boundaries of
the bistability region in terms of the force.

point buckling curves corresponding to a four-beam suspension

are shown. One observes that in the case of relatively small
elevations, slightly above the snap-through criterion, the beam
parameters can be chosen in such a way that the characteristic,
which is close to an effectively linear dependence, is achieved in
the interval of the forces between the snap-through values of the
bistable elements incorporated into the suspension, Fig. 5(a). On
the other hand, the choice of the higher elevation beams distinguished by smaller difference between their lengths results in
multistability of the structure. In this case, the suspension
incorporating four beams can be in ve different stable states
within the interval of the forces limited by the highest release
force (corresponding to the shortest and consequently stiffest
beam of the chain) and the lowest snap-through force, associated
with the longest beam, Fig. 5(b). Note that since the (tangent)
stiffness of the bistable beam decreases in the vicinity of the
snap-through point and is signicantly higher prior to and
especially after the snap-through collapse (see Fig. 4(a)), most
of the compliance of the suspension in the intermediate deformed
conguration is localized in one of the suspension elements,
which is closest to the snap-through state. When the force
exceeds the snap-through value corresponding to the shortest
beam, all elements of the suspension are in a post-buckled state
and a further increase of the loading results in a stiffening of the
structure. In a sense, the structure can be effectively viewed as a
compliant displacement limiter distinguished by low stiffness
within a certain interval of the displacements/forces and much
higher stiffness when the displacement/force exceeds a certain
value. This feature can be benecial in MEMS applications where
the realization of the displacement limiters based on contact is
often challenging from the reliability point of view and friction/
stiction related problems. The effective forcedisplacement
characteristic of this compliant limiter can be tailored in a very
wide range.
2.3. Actuator model
The structures considered in this work are actuated by an
integrated comb drive transducer [52]. This kind of transducer is
chosen since it allows, in contrast to the transducers based on a
close-gap conguration, for relatively large (with respect to the
distance between the electrode) displacements of the actuator. One
of the distinguishing benecial features of the comb drive is that
the force provided by the transducer is independent of the actuator
displacement. This simplies the design and operation of the
device and eliminates the undesired electrostatic pull-in instability
in the direction of the actuation. However, the structures actuated
by a comb drive are still prone to the lateral (side) pull-in

Fig. 6. Schematics of a comb drive transducer model.

instability, which is often the main factor limiting the stable

displacement range of the comb drive actuator (e.g., see [53].).
In order to illustrate the approach used in this work for the
estimation of the stability range of the devices, we rst consider a
simplied model of the actuator. The model is shown schematically in Fig. 6 and incorporates a rigid shutter connected to the
substrate by the elastic suspension, a set of moveable electrodes
attached to the shutter and a set of xed electrodes anchored to
the substrate. The device is constrained to move in the z and x
directions and is considered as a two degrees of freedom system.
Consequently, the elastic suspension is represented by two
springs with the stiffness kz and kx. Note that in the actual devices
the high stiffness in the out of plane (y) direction is provided due
to the high aspect ratio between the beams width, b (the height
of the SOI device layer) and the thickness d of the beams.
Rotational degrees of freedom are eliminated by the design
means, as will be specied in the next section. The equilibrium
of the actuator is described by the system of two coupled
algebraic equations
kx uA
kz wA

ne0 bw0 wA V 2
2

2g0 uA

ne0 bw0 wA V 2

ne0 bV 2
ne0 bV 2

2g0 uA 2g0 uA

2g0 uA 2
5

where uA and wA are the displacements of the actuator in the

lateral (x) and axial (z) directions, respectively; g0 and w0 are the
initial distance and the initial overlap between the electrodes; n is

Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

the number of the moveable electrodes; e0 8.854  10  12 F/m is

the permittivity and V is the applied voltage.
The electromechanical behavior and stability of the model
shown in Fig. 6 and described by Eq. (5) was analyzed in [53]. It
was found that the stable displacement in the z-direction is
bounded by the value
wMAX
A

s


kx
w0 2 w0

g0

2kz
2g0
2

Note in passing that expressing wA in terms of uA from the second

part of Eq. (5) and substituting the result into the rst equation,

Fig. 7. The limit point buckling curve (solid line) of the multistable suspension
assembled from bistable beams of four different length L 700 mm, 800 mm,
900 mm, 1000 mm, the midpoint elevation of h 8 mm and the width of d 3 mm
and corresponding tangent stiffness kTz (dashed line).

Fig. 8. An artist view of a truss-like structure of the actuator.

63

one obtains a homogeneous nonlinear equation in terms of the

lateral displacement. This equation may have three different
solutions two unstable and one stable trivial solution uA 0
or only one unstable trivial solution uA 0, depending upon
whether the actuation voltage is higher or lower than the pullin value corresponding to the subcritical pitchfork bifurcation.
A stability analysis of this equation linearized in the vicinity of the
trivial solution leads to Eq. (6). The pull-in voltage is then
obtained using the second part of Eq. (5) for uA 0 and wA wMAX
.
A
In the case of the geometrically nonlinear multistable suspension considered in the present work and as a result of a structural
coupling the stiffness kz and kx are not constant and are functions
of the actuator displacement. In addition, they are also affected by
the secondary compliances of the actuators structure (mainly
compliances of the shutter and of the connecting frames that the
suspension beams and the comb drive electrodes are attached to).
In order to verify that the maximally achievable stable displacement is larger than the designed displacement range of the
actuator, we used the following approximate approach. First,
since the stability is analyzed in the vicinity of uA 0 and the
congurations of the beams of the suspension are uniquely
related to the actuator displacement wA (see Figs. 35), we
assume that both axial and lateral stiffness are decoupled and
are solely functions of the axial displacements, i.e., kz kz(wA) and
kx kx(wA). Next, the values of the stiffness appearing in Eq. (6)
are replaced by the values of the tangent stiffness calculated in
the actual deformed conguration of the device. The axial (in the
z-direction) compliance of the structure is associated mainly with
the exibility of the bistable beams and can be calculated using
either nite element analysis or the shallow beam model. In
contrast, kx is strongly affected by the secondary compliances and
should be calculated only for the actual deformed geometry of the
device. It was evaluated numerically using the nite element
method for multiple points within the actuator traveling range.
Namely, a small probing force was applied to the shutter in the
lateral (x) direction and the stiffness was obtained using the ratio
between the increment of the force and the calculated displacement of the forces application point (e.g., see [54]). Note that the
point of this probing force application was different in various
designs and was chosen to reect the location of the forces
transferred to the structure by a comb drive transducer. The axial
and lateral tangent stiffness were calculated at several deformed
congurations corresponding to the highest kz and the lowest kx.
It was found that kz has local maxima in the congurations after
each of the snap-through jumps (see Fig. 7). The largest value of kz
is in the conguration corresponding to the fully stretched
geometry of the suspension when all bistable beams are in the

Fig. 9. (a) Design #1bistable device containing a pair of curved beams connected in parallel. The length and the initial elevation of the beams are L 1160 mm, h 25 mm.
(b) Finite element analysis results of the lateral displacements (in mm) of the structure under a lateral force of 100 mN applied to the shutter.

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Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

buckled state (see Fig. 7). The congurations corresponding to the

smallest value of kx differ for the various actual designs of the
structure. For these values of the stiffness, the result provided by
Eq. (6) represents therefore the worst case scenario and the
corresponding value of wMAX
can be viewed as the lower bound
A
estimation of the stable displacement range of the device. This
value was required to be larger than the designed actuator
displacement and was used as a preliminary estimation of the
stability range during the design. In addition, the stability of the
device was directly veried using Eq. (6) with locally minimal kx,
or locally maximal kz and w0 corresponding to the actual overlap
between the electrodes in these deformed congurations.
It should be noted that for technological reasons (namely, to
allow a wet release of the suspended structures in a hydrouoric
(HF) acid) and in order to reduce the area and the possibility of
stiction of the device to the substrate, the parts of the device, which
should be ideally rigid were designed as a truss-like structure, Fig. 8.
Finite element analysis of these kinds of structures using solid or
even structural beam elements could be computationally intensive,
especially in the framework of the large deection nonlinear incremental solutions used for the analysis of the devices. In order to
simplify modeling and reduce the computational time, an approach
based on the use of equivalent structures was implemented while
calculating the lateral stiffness, kx. The complex truss-like structures
were replaced by simple, effectively equivalent, beams with the
lateral (x-direction) stiffness equal to that of the complex structure.
The truss-like structure modeled as an assembly of beams using a
planar straight beam element served as a reference and was replaced

Fig. 10. Limit point buckling curve of the bistable device shown in Fig. 9(a)
(design #1)nite element analysis result.

by a single planar beam with an equivalent cross-section and second

cross sectional moments of area identical to that of the truss-like
structure. This equivalent beam (planar beam element) was then
used in all nite element analyses of the designed structures.

3. Designed congurations
Multistable devices of four different congurations incorporating one or two (connected in parallel) chains of three or four
serially connected curved beams and actuated electrostatically by
a comb drive transducer were designed. In addition, a simple
bistable device incorporating a pair of curved beams connected in
parallel was designed as well. In all cases, the nominal width and
the thickness of the beams were b30 mm and d3 mm, respectively. In all multistable designs, the curved beams of different
lengths were attached by their ends to a relatively stiff frame
realized as a truss-like structure. The midpoints of the shortest
beams in each of two chains of bistable elements were connected
to a central beam (hereafter referred as a shutter) with the
movable part of the electrostatic transducer attached to it. The
midpoints of the longest beams were anchored to the substrate.
For each design, the shallow beam model was used for the
preliminary evaluation of the design and operational parameters.
Next, the nite element method was used at the stage of the
detailed analysis and design to obtain the forcedeection characteristics and estimate the stability of the device. Note that in all
cases two-dimensional (planar) nite element models were used
and all the components of the structures were modeled using

Fig. 12. Limit point buckling curve of the multistable device incorporating three
serially connected bistable beams and supported by a tilted folded exure
(Fig. 11(a), design #2)nite element analysis result.

Fig. 11. (a) Design #2device incorporating three serially connected bistable beams and supported by a tilted folded exure. The lengths of the curved beams are
1500 mm, 1300 mm, 1100 mm, the initial elevation of all the beams is h 19 mm. The length and thickness of the beams of the folded suspension are 1100 mm and 3.5 mm,
respectively, the inclination is 3.51. (b) Finite element analysis results of the lateral displacements (in mm) of the structure under two lateral forces of 100 mN each applied
to the shutter.

Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

planar beam elements. In all cases the curved beams incorporated

into the suspensions were subdivided into 100 elements. Note
that in contrast to the shallow beam models described in Section
2, no symmetry conditions at the midpoint of the beams were
used in the nite element models. The rigid parts of the device
the shutter and the connecting frames were represented using
equivalent planar beams. The goal was to compare different
designs and to estimate, using the model, feasibility of the
multistable operation and expected performance of the devices.
3.1. Design #1bistable device
The simplest bistable actuator containing a pair of identical
curved beams, which are connected in parallel to a rigid shutter is
shown in Fig. 9(a). The required actuation force is provided by a
bi-directional electrostatic comb drive transducer. Due to its
simplicity, the device represents a convenient platform for the
investigation of stability properties of this kind of device and for
comparison between experimental and model results (e.g., see
[20,21]). By connecting two beams in parallel, the (in-plane)
rotation of the shutter about an axis perpendicular to the
substrate is precluded, the possibility of the antisymmetric
buckling of the beams is eliminated (see [22]) and the lateral
stiffness of the suspension and consequently the stable stroke of
the device are increased. Fig. 9(b) illustrates the nite element
results for the lateral deection of the shutter (described as
equivalent beam) under the lateral probing force of 100 mN.
The computational limit point buckling curve is shown in Fig. 10.
The device was found to exhibit a stable displacement of at least
60 mm. The comb drive transducer contained 180 electrodes while
the nominal distance between the electrodes was 4 mm. In this
case the actuation voltage corresponding to the maximal deection of 42 mm in Fig. 10 is 70 V.

65

conventional actuators operated by a comb drive transducer. The

lateral deection of the shutter under two forces of 100 mN each,
which were applied to the device in the initial, the most laterally
compliant, conguration, is shown in Fig. 11(b). One observes that
due to the relatively high lateral compliance of the suspension, the
deection in the x-direction is signicantly higher than in the
bistable device (see Fig. 9(b)). However, the device was found to
exhibit a stable displacement of at least 100 mm. The limit point
buckling curve is shown in Fig. 12. In this device the comb drive
transducer contained 340 electrodes with the nominal distance of
5 mm between the electrodes. The actuation voltage corresponding
to the maximal deection of 85 mm in Fig. 12 is 40 V.
3.3. Design #3device with curved double beams
The device is attached to the substrate by two multistable chains.
Each chain incorporates three serially connected curved double
beams (Fig. 13(a)). In this design, each bistable beam was replaced
by a pair of identical, closely located, curved beams connected to each
other at the midpoint (see insert in Fig. 13(a)). This architecture
prevents a possibility of the antisymmetric buckling of the beams (see
[22,23]), precludes the rotation of the device around an axis perpendicular to the substrate and increases the lateral stiffness of the
actuator. Fig. 13(b) illustrates the lateral compliance of the device.
One observes that the compliance of the relatively long shutter
cannot be disregarded and should be included into the analysis in
addition to the compliance of the suspensions. The nite element

3.2. Design #2device supported by a tilted folded exure

The second design is a multistable device incorporating a chain
of three serially connected bistable beams and supported in
addition by a tilted folded exure [55,56] (Fig. 11(a)). In this
structure, the folded exure is acting as a spring, which is
connected in parallel to the three serially connected bistable beams.
The tilted folded exure is shown in [55,56] to increase the lateral
stiffness of the structure and to enlarge the stable stroke of the

Fig. 14. Limit point buckling curve of the multistable device incorporating two
chains of three serially connected double beams (Fig. 13(a), design #3)nite
element analysis result.

Fig. 13. (a) Design #3device with two chains of three double bistable beams. The lengths of the curved beams are 1100 mm, 1000 mm, 900 mm, the initial elevation of all
the beams is h 13 mm. (b) Finite element analysis results of the lateral displacements (in mm) of the structure under the lateral force of 100 mN applied to the shutter.

66

Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

Fig. 15. (a) Design #4device with curved beams connected by frames. The lengths of the curved beams are 1250 mm, 1150 mm, 1050 mm, the initial elevation of the
beams is h 15 mm. (b) Finite element analysis results of the lateral displacements (in mm) of the structure under three lateral forces of 100 mN each applied to the
outer frame.

Fig. 16. Limit point buckling curve of the multistable device with curved beams
connected by frames (Fig. 15(a), design #4)nite element analysis result.

analysis shows that the displacement of the device is stable up to at

least 75 mm. The limit point buckling is shown in Fig. 14. The comb
drive transducer contained 330 electrodes with the nominal distance
of 4.5 mm between the electrodes. The actuation voltage corresponding to the maximal deection of 60 mm in Fig. 14 is 65 V.
3.4. Design #4device with curved beams connected by frames
Similar to design #3, the device of design #4 is suspended
using two multistable chains, each containing three curved
bistable beams. However, in contrast to design #3, each of the
beams incorporated into one chain is connected by a rigid frame
to a beam of the same length, which is a part of the second chain
(Fig. 15(a)). This arrangement of the beams prevents in-plane
rotation of the structure and improves its lateral stability.
Fig. 15(b) illustrates the lateral deection of the frame under
three lateral forces of 100 mN each applied at the locations of the
attachment of the comb drive transducer. One observes that the
frame structure exhibits much higher lateral stiffness when
compared to design #3 (Fig. 13(b)). The stable displacement of
the device was estimated to be 100 mm. The computational limit
point buckling curve is shown in Fig. 16. The comb drive
transducer attached to the outer frame and located outside of
the suspension area (see Fig. 15(a)) contained 330 electrodes with
the nominal distance of 3.5 mm between the electrodes. The
actuation voltage corresponding to the maximal deection of
80 mm shown in Fig. 16 is 55 V.
3.5. Design #5device with curved beams connected by outer
frames
The device of design #5 is suspended using two chains, each
incorporating four curved beams. Similar to design #4, each of the

beams is connected by a rigid frame to its counterpart of the same

length in another chain (Fig. 17(a)). Similar to design #4, the
device was found to manifest excellent lateral stability, Fig. 17(b).
The stable stroke of the device was estimated to be least 115 mm.
However, in contrast to the design #4, this device incorporates a
central shutter connecting the pair of the shortest curved beams
and with the comb drive transducer attached to it. This arrangement reduces the moment applied by the transducer, which may
result in the undesired in-plane rotation of the structure. The
limit point buckling curve is shown in Fig. 18. The comb drive
transducer contained 250 electrodes with the nominal distance of
4 mm. In accordance with the nite element model results the
deection of 75 mm shown in Fig. 18 can be achieved by applying
the actuating voltage of 70 V.

4. Experiment
Using the detailed nite element analysis designs #4 and #5
were found to exhibit the largest stable displacement combined
with a relatively small footprint and the possibility to integrate
relatively large number of electrodes. Fabrication and characterization efforts were focused mainly on these devices. Design #1
(bistable device) was fabricated as well due to its simplicity,
robustness and convenience of operation and for comparison with
the model results.
The rst step in the fabrication of MEMS devices is preparation
of the detailed layout of the structure. For the sake of compatibility with the mask making tools, the layout should be accomplished using dedicated layout software originally developed for
the needs of the semiconductor industry. On the other hand,
mechanical design is typically carried out using three-dimensional CAD tools allowing easy visualization and parameterization
of complex geometries. In addition, the geometries created by the
mechanical CAD tools can be conveniently imported into nite
element software and then meshed and analyzed. In this work,
the three-dimensional geometry of the devices was rst built
using mechanical CAD tools (SolidWorks [57]), see Fig. 8, and
nite element analysis of the devices was performed, as was
described previously in Section 3, using the imported geometry.
Then, the mechanical geometry was converted into the GDSII
format compatible with the standard layout tools [57] (see
Fig. 19). Note that mask generation was simplied due to the
single layer architecture of the SOI devices.
The devices were fabricated from highly doped single crystal Si
using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers with (1 0 0) surface orientation as a starting material and etched using a deep reactive ion
etching (DRIE) based process. The patterning of the photoresist
spun on top of the 30 mm thick device layer of the SOI wafer was

Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

67

Fig. 17. (a) Design #5device with two chains of four curved beams connected by frames. The lengths of the beams are 1000 mm, 900 mm, 800 mm, 700 mm, the midpoint
elevation of all the beams is h 11 mm. (b) Finite element analysis results of the lateral displacements (in mm) of the structure under a lateral force of 100 mN applied to the
shutter.

Fig. 18. Limit point buckling curve of the multistable device with two chains of
four curved beams connected by frames (Fig. 17(a), design #5)nite element
analysis result.

Fig. 19. Layout preparation owchart.

followed by reactive ion etching (RIE) of the silicon dioxide layer

for the formation of a hard mask. DRIE of the device layer was
stopped at the 2 mm thick buried silicon dioxide (BOX) layer
followed by the device release using hydrouoric (HF) acid and
drying in a vacuum oven. An example of the fabricated device is
shown in Fig. 20. Note that the truss-like structure of the shutter

Fig. 20. Scanning Electron Microscope micrographs of the fabricated device

design #5.

and of the frames simplies the release and decreases the area
prone to stiction.
The structures were mounted on a wafer prober Karl Suss
PSM6 located on an anti-vibration table (Kinetic systems, vibroplane), and were operated at room temperature and under
ambient air conditions. The actuation voltage provided by a
voltage source was applied to the unmovable electrodes of the
comb drive transducer while the movable parts of the device and
the substrate were connected to ground. The in-plane motion was
captured by a CCD camera mounted on an optical microscope
Mitutoyo FS70 (0/100, switchable microscope with long working
distance objectives). The displacements of the actuator were
measured using an analysis of captured images, each corresponding to specic values of the actuation voltage.
Preliminary experimental results demonstrating the feasibility
of the suggested approach are shown in Figs. 21 and 22.
Fig. 21(a) shows a bistable device suspended using a pair of
curved beams connected in parallel by a shutter (Design #1).
Corresponding experimental and calculated limit point buckling
curves are shown in Fig. 21(b). Note that actual geometry
parameters of the device (mainly the thickness of the beams
and the distance between the electrodes), which were measured
by high magnication optical microscope, were used in the
model. The device is bistable in the interval of the voltages
between 14 and 30 V. It should be noted that all the designs
incorporate relatively large (a few mm in size) connecting frames
with limited out of plane/tilting stiffness. For these reasons the
devices of designs #4 and #5 were found to be prone to stiction to
the substrate. In this perspective, device #4 demonstrated better
functionality when compared with design #5. Optical microscope

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Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

Fig. 21. (a) An optical microscope micrograph of the bistable device (Design #1). The length of the beam is 1160 mm, initial elevation of the midpoint is 25 mm. The comb
drive transducer contains 180 electrodes with a gap of 3.5 mm. Blue arrow illustrates the actuation direction. (b) Experimental limit point buckling curve (markers) and
nite element model results (dashed line) of the device. Arrows illustrate the direction of loading/unloading (for interpretation of the references to color in this gure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).

Fig. 22. (a) An optical microscope micrograph of the multistable device (design #4). Blue arrow illustrates the actuation direction (b) Experimental limit point buckling
curves (markers) and nite element model results (solid line) of the device incorporating two chains of three serially connected bistable beams connected by frames
(design #4). The lengths of the beams are 1250 mm, 1150 mm, 1050 mm and the initial elevation of the midpoint is  14 mm. The device is actuated by 330 combs (for
interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).

between the experimental and the model results to the differences in the device geometry, mainly in the thickness of
the beams, which is highly uncertain due to low fabrication
tolerances of micromachining. The device exhibits stable total
displacement of 80 mm at the relatively low actuation voltage of
33 V.

5. Conclusions

Fig. 23. Snap shots of the suspension (design #4) at different actuation voltages:
(1) 16 V, (2) 22 V, (3) 25 V, (4) 32 V.

micrograph (Fig. 22(a)) and experimental limit point buckling

curve of the device #4 are shown in Fig. 22(b) along with the
numerical results. The snapshots of the deformed curved beams
corresponding to the different points on the curve are shown in
Fig. 23. One observes that, consistently with the nite element
model prediction, with increasing voltage the device manifests
sequential snap-through buckling. We attribute the discrepancy

We presented a design approach of a multistable long displacement micro actuator. The device incorporates serially connected
bistable elements realized as shallow curved beams. One of the
advantages of the suggested design approach is that a desired limit
point buckling curve can be achieved by changing geometrical
parameters of each of the bistable elements. We found that in view
of high uncertainty in the device geometry due to low tolerances of
micromachining the length of the beams is the most suitable for
the tailoring of the device forcedisplacement characteristics.
Several design congurations were considered and the feasibility
of the suggested approach was demonstrated using the detailed
nite element model. We show that low lateral compliance of the
device actuated by a comb drive transducer and containing several
serially connected bistable beams may make the device to be prone
to the lateral pull-in instability. Direct numerical evaluation,
by means of nite element modeling, of the axial and lateral

Y. Gerson et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 49 (2012) 5869

compliances of the designed structure allowed for the estimation

of the stability range of the devices and serves as a basis for the
feasibility and comparative study between different designs.
Several design congurations were suggested and analyzed which
allow achieving large stable displacements of up to 100 mm. The
devices fabricated from SOI wafers using the DRIE based process
demonstrated stable displacements of 80 mm travels and three
snap-through and snap-back events. The experimental results were
consistent with the computational model predictions.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Israel Science Foundation
(Grant no. 1426/08) and the National Science Foundation (Grant
ECS-0335765). A preliminary version of this work initially appeared
in [45].
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