The Electrostatic Tangential Resistance of the MEMS Moving Plate Considering the Edge Effects

Friction force is present in most microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), since they have a large ratio of surface area to their volume. To improve the performance and reliability of MEMS devices, it is necessary to full understand the effect of friction which exists in the majority of MEMS. The model of electrostatic tangential force for MEMS’s moving plates is established based on the rule of energy conservation, further it is revised considering the edge effects by the conformal mapping method for smooth and opening holes plates. Three types of the electrostatic tangential resistance, which are the unrevised theoretical value and revised theoretical value and simulation value, were compared. The effects of microscale and applied voltage and holes are investigated, and the electrostatic tangential resistance between two charged moving plates with respect to each other is analyzed. It is found that the three types of the electrostatic tangential resistance will be increased with the rate of the plate width over the gap of two plates or the applied voltage increasing. And the opening holes did not significantly reduce the value of the electrostatic tangential resistance because of the presence of edge effects. The revised analytic results are larger than the ones not revised, and the former are close to results of ANSYS simulation.