Thermo-elastic Behavior of Buckled Multi-layered MEMS Bridge: Model and Experiment

In this paper, we have obtained thermo-elastic model which takes into account elastically constrained boundary conditions and residual moment in the buckled bridge and verified experimentally. A novel micro-bridge with legs and spring attachments at either supporting ends to provide elastically constrained boundary conditions is fabricated, packaged, wire bonded to carry out the experiment. The micro-bridge is electro-thermally actuated inside a SEM while the mechanical deflection is measured in situ. Employing heat transfer analysis in the vacuum and 3D finite element ANSYS simulation, the temperatures of the legs and bridge are estimated. The model is then solved at these temperatures and compared with the measured results. A good agreement is obtained between the measured result and the model with 0.5 mum error. The snapping temperatures predicted by the model and measured experimentally are also in a good agreement with only 7% error.