Comb Drive

SOLVED WITH COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS 3.5a

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Comb D r ive
Introduction
Rectangular comb drives find use in a variety of MEMS applications. The following model of an electrostatically actuated comb drive opens and closes a pair of microtweezers. To facilitate controlled partial engagement, this design gives the comb fingers jagged edges. This model comes from Isabelle P. F. Harouche and Dr. Cyrus Shafai of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba, Canada (Ref. 1).

Model Definition
Figure 1 shows the microtweezers (top) and a close-up of part of the comb drive (bottom). Applying a voltage across the gaps between the combs actuates the tweezers. The structure is made of polysilicon and has a thickness of a few micrometers.

Figure 1: The microtweezers (top) and the comb-drive mechanism (bottom).

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The model includes just a few of the teeth. It simulates only the comb drive and its attachment using double-folded beam springs. Taking advantage of symmetries means that you only have to set up a quarter of the geometry, see Figure 2.

Figure 2: Initial (undeformed) model geometry. The upper half of the comb is fixed, as is the end of the beam spring. The system applies an electric potential to the beam spring and the lower comb; the upper comb is grounded. In the air surrounding the comb drive, the model solves the electrostatic equation ( V ) = 0 . The electrostatic force density is E Fes = ---------, 2 and the simulation applies it to each comb as a perpendicular boundary load.
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Modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics

Because electrostatic forces attract the combs to each other, any geometric change has an impact on the electric field between them. To account for this effect, the model uses an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics Moving Mesh application mode. This application mode automatically keeps track of the movements and translate application mode equations between the fixed (reference) and moving frames.

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In this model the displacements are relatively large. Therefore, you use the Plane Stress application modes support for large deformations. To define the electrostatic force, you use the Electrostatics application modes Maxwell surface stress tensor boundary variables. The geometry of this model is rather complex and thus the boundary conditions are laborious to enter. For an example that is faster and easier to set up, see the Cantilever beam model, which is a good introduction to using the Moving Mesh application mode.

Results and Discussion

The following two figures show the comb drive and the electric field at equilibrium for an actuation voltage of 600 V.

Figure 3: The electric-potential field for an actuation voltage of 600 V.

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Figure 4: Displacements inside the comb drive at 600 V. The color legend that appears on the screen indicates displacements in the y direction. The next figure plots the displacement at the tip of one of the fingers of the lower comb as a function of the actuation voltage. The teeth have some effect on the displacements, but in order to make step-by-step actuation possible (like a switch gear), they would need to be wider, almost touching each other. To reduce actuation voltages it is common to construct comb drives with many more teeth than in this model. Preferably, you would model such comb drives using a periodic approximation, thereby allowing the simulation of only one pair of fingers. The model could handle plane stress analysis in a separate geometry using the parametric solver to find the displacement of the comb base as a function of the applied force. Then a boundary integration variable could integrate the force density and dictate the displacements. Another extension of the model would include fringing-field effects. A full 3D model might not be realistic, but you could estimate the size of the fringing fields by modeling two fingers in both 2D and 3D. You could then include the result of this

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simulation in the full 2D model as, for instance, an approximate correction factor applied directly to the actuation voltage.

Figure 5: The displacement of the innermost comb finger as a function of the actuation voltage. For mid-range voltages the teeth suppress the displacement so that it is almost linear with voltage. Without teeth in the comb you could expect that the displacement would resemble a quadratic function of the voltage.

Reference
1. I.P.F. Harouche and C. Shafai, Simulation of shaped comb drive as a stepped actuator for microtweezers application, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical , 2005.

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