INTRODUCTION TO MEMS

EA C415

Dr. N.N. SHARMA

LECTURE 4
SCALING
NATURE
FORCES
VERTICAL BRACKET NOTATION

 ELECTROSTATIC
V/S
ELECTROMAGNETIC
 SCALING DOWN
Favorable
Small devices tend to be faster
Consume less power.

Less Favorable
Small actuators exerts less force;
Smaller power sources harness less power.
Powering miniaturized devices is challenging
Miniaturizing powering devices is difficult
 SCALING IN NATURE

EXISTENCE: LARGE v/s SMALL

 Huge animal: African Elephant 3.83m. – very few
 Macro animals: small variety
 Small Virus : Few micro to nanometers
– large variety
– Uncountable number (billion-trillion)
 SCALING IN NATURE
SURFACE TO VOLUME RATIO
Heat loss (surface effect L2)/Heat Generation
(volume effect L3)
NATURE’S REMEDY:Small animals are
cold blooded
Evaporation (surface effect L2)
NATURE’S REMEDY: Sea based small
animals are more
 Skin friction (Surface Effect L2)
NATURE’S OBSERVATION: Large
animals swim faster
 SCALING IN NATURE

SURFACE TO VOLUME RATIO

Low Inertia (Volume Effect L3)/Large skin
friction Surface effect L2 )
NATURAL OBSERVATION: Small animals
easily float; Difficult to drag.

Surface Tension (Linear Effect L1)

NATURAL OBSERVATION : Spilling from cup
is easy in comparison to spilling from capillary
tube.
SCALING ANALYSIS

DIMENSIONAL (MLT)/SCALING (Ln)

L: Length/Size n: scaling index
n
Physical qty. in relation to size is expressed as L
3
ex: mass scales as L
PRELIMINARY INFORMATION
Without doing involved mathematics, simplistic
qualitative interpretation between physical qty. and
size is obtained.
 SCALING ANALYSIS
#ex 1 Rate of heat transfer (conduction mode)
Q AT L0 L2 L0
   L1

t d L1
#ex 2 Flow through circular conduit (Hagen-
Poiseullie) d 4 P L4 L0
Q  4
L
8L 0
LL 0

l
L0 L1
#ex 3 Resistance R  2  L1
A L
vl L0 L1 L1
#ex 4 Reynolds No. Re    L2

 L0
FORCES (Used in Micro Actuation)

 ELECTRICAL
 MAGNETIC
 FLUIDIC
 THERMAL
 CHEMICAL

 ELECTROCHEMICAL
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROSTATIC

Electrically charged material can exert an

attractive force on oppositely charged objects or a
repulsive force on similarly charged ones.
To appreciate scaling issues in electrostatic
devices, Trimmer’s analysis of isometric scaling of
the maximum stored energy in a simple parallel
plate capacitor is considered.
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROSTATIC w
d

v
Say w, v, d scales as L1
MAXIMUM ELECTROSTATIC POTENTIAL ENERGY STORED

1  r  0 wvvb 2
E  CVb 
2

2 2d
 r  0 wv
 C  Capacitance
2d
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROSTATIC

Permitivity of vacuum and relative permitivity

remains unchanged with scaling
Assume Vb scales linearly with d (Out of Paschen
effect range)
E
 
2
l 1l 1 l 1
 l3
l1

E V 2 C l 3
Fx     1  l2
x 2 x l
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROSTATIC

 ELECTROSTATIC FORCES FOUND TO

SCALE AS SQUARE OF L.
 SINCE MASS AND HENCE INERTIAL
FORCES SCALE AS CUBE OF L,
ELECTROSTATIC ACTUATORS ARE
ADVANTAGEOUS IN SCALED DOWN
SIZES.
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROSTATIC
Paschen Effect: Breakdown of continuum theory
air
Hg
Vb

P, d

P: pressure
d: distance between plates
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROSTATIC
Paschen Effect: Breakdown of continuum theory
Vb scales non linearly in Paschen effect range
Vb increases in Paschen effect range (Reason??)
Higher Vb implies higher storage of energy and
so larger force.
E Vb/m
Without Paschen Effect 40 J/m 3 3  10 6 v/m
With Paschen effect 4  105 J/m 3 3  108 v/m
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC

 In the macro world, electromagnetic forces

dominate the development of actuators such
as conventional motors.
 A GOOD STARTING POINT TO UNDERSTAND
SCALING IN MAGNETICS IS AMPERE’S
CIRCUITAL LAW, USED TO CALCULATE THE
MAGNETIC INDUCTION

 B.dL    J dA   I
0 0
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC
F  idl  B  JdA  B
for constant current density J
1
B scales as L (from ampere' s circuital law)
 F scales as L L L L  L
0 2 1 1 4

Inertia scales as L3 ; Electromagnetic actuator force

scales as L4
TRY FINDING SCALING OF ELECTROMAGNETIC
FORCE USING STORED ENERGY!!!
SCALING OF FORCES
ELECTROMAGNETIC v/s ELECTROSTATIC

3D 2D
Difficult to make Fabrication Compatible with planar technology
Scaling disadvantageous Scaling favorable
Less friction (Gap is large) Comparatively large friction
Large force (absolute) Comparatively Less force

E ~ 9 10 J/m 5 3
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS

Trimmer proposed a unique matrix to

represent force scaling with related
parameters of acceleration (a), time (t) and
power density that is required for scaling of
motion of system.
This matrix has the generic name of force
scaling vector or Trimmer’s vertical bracket
notation
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS

The scale model using the vertical bracket is

given as:
 L1 
 2
  L 
F  L   3
F

L 
 L4 
 
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS

The interpretation of equation is that as forces (F)

scales as first second, third or fourth power of scale
size (L). The acceleration in dimensional form is
given as:

  
F
F L 3
a  3  L L
F
m L
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS

The denominator term mass (m) scales as third

power of size. So from previous equations, the
acceleration of micromachines in vertical bracket
notation is given as:
 L2 
 1 
L 
a 0 
L 
 L1 
 
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS

Similarly time in dimensional form is:

1
 2 xm  2
       
1 1
F 
t    L L L
1 3 2 2
L LF 2

 F 
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS

In vertical bracket notation , time is given as:

 L1.5 
 1 
L 
t   0.5 
L 
 L0 
 
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS

On similar lines, the vertical bracket notation for

power density can be obtained as:

 L2.5 
 1 
L 
P V o   0 .5 
L 
 L2 
 
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS
So if the size of the component reduces by ten times, its
weight reduces by 1000 times.
The forces (weight), which scales as third power do not
change the acceleration as can be inferred from acceleration
vertical bracket .
but will reduce the time to complete the motion by 100.5

and same amount of reduction in power

the reduction in power consumption is therefore P  3.16Vo
 TRIMMERS NOTATION
SCALING IN RIGID BODY DYNAMICS

Different forces scales differently:

 for example electrostatic forces scales as
power of two.
 electromagnetic forces as power of three or
four
 and surface tensile forces as power of one.
 most advantageous scaling: surface tension
forces but it is a begging question to scientific
community to harness these forces as motive
forces.
SCALING EFFECTS

# Ex 1 MICROCHANNEL

50  50m
2

One drop of blood  100l

V  A L
 0.1 cm 3  50  10 4 cm  50  10 4 cm  L
L  4000cm !
SCALING EFFECTS
# Ex 2 Laminar Tubular Flow

8 lQ
P 
a 4
Q  vol. flow rate, P  pressure drop in the fluid over l
a  diameter of tube
1
 P  4
a
Fluid flow in micro - domains is challangin g !
SCALING EFFECTS

# Ex 3 Surface tension-Pressure relation



 
2r  P r 2 Drop P
2
P  ; 
r
 
 N / m  J / m 2 ;  is energy required to create a unit surface
Surface energy 4r 2  3 1
  
Volume 4 3r 3
r r
Small drops are energetica lly unfavorable !
SCALING EFFECTS

# Ex 4 Surface tension-Pressure relation

 Attachment to surfaces
creates large localized BUBBLE
forces

 Collapse of bubble causes cavitations and damage to

surface results
 Smaller bubbles, comparatively with larger bubbles, have
higher P (P 1/r)
 More damage from small bubbles due to cavitations
SCALING EFFECTS

# Ex 5 Laminar Flow

Inertia force
Re (Reynold No.) 
Viscous force

 In MEMS, inertia forces are negligible

 But viscous forces are increased
 Hence, Low Reynolds No., Very Laminar
flow
SCALING EFFECTS

# Ex 5 Laminar Flow

 Fluid mixing in micro-

domains is a problem

 Passive Solution:
Bends and Turns

 Active Solution: Induce

Chaos via pumping
SCALING EFFECTS

What happens to:

Viscosity
Friction
 NEXT LECTURE:

MICROFABRICATION