ECE/ME/IE 485

Fall 2010

HW #5
1. A <100> single-crystal silicon beam is attached to a rigid wall. A force of 100
µN is acting on the right end of the beam in a direction normal to the wall. Refer
to Appendix A (p.517) in Liu text for material properties.

a. Calculate the normal stress (σ) on the beam.

b. Calculate the normal strain (s) on the beam.

c. What is the change in length (ΔL) along the direction of the beam?

d. What is the change in width (Δw) of the beam?

e. What is the force required for the fracture of the beam? Assume that the
material remains elastic until the point of fracture.

f. Repeat parts a-d for beam material being aluminum instead of silicon.

2. Shown below is a cantilever made out of LPCVD SiN. A point loading of 50 µN

is applied at the free end of the beam. Refer to Appendices A and B (p.517-520)
of Liu text for material properties and beam formulas.
 a. Calculate the moment of inertia (I) of the cantilever beam.

b. What is the vertical displacement (x) at the free end of the beam?

c. What is the spring constant (k) of the cantilever?

d. Calculate I, x (sideways displacement), and k for sideways deflection if

force is applied sideways rather than downwards.

3. Shown below is a parallel plate capacitor suspended by eight cantilever beams.

The material of the structure is <100> single-crystal silicon. The dimensions of
the support beams are:
width (w) = 10 µm
thickness of proof mass = 2 µm
thickness of beams (t) = 0.5 µm
beams A – F: length (l) = 30 µm
beams G, H: length (l) = 15 µm

a. Calculate the snap-in voltage of the capacitor. The surrounding medium is air.
b. For an applied voltage of , what is the vertical displacement?

c. Estimate the resonant frequency of the structure

Top view

Side view