Anti-Symmetric Mode Vibration of Electrostatically Actuated Clamped–Clamped Microbeams for Mass Sensing

Abstract

This paper details study of the anti-symmetric response to the symmetrical electrostatic excitation of a Micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) resonant mass sensor. Under higher order mode excitation, two nonlinear coupled flexural modes to describe MEMS mass sensors are obtained by using Hamilton’s principle and Galerkin method. Static analysis is introduced to investigate the effect of added mass on the natural frequency of the resonant sensor. Then, the perturbation method is applied to determine the response and stability of the system for small amplitude vibration. Through bifurcation analysis, the physical conditions of the anti-symmetric mode vibration are obtained. The corresponding stability analysis is carried out. Results show that the added mass can change the bifurcation behaviors of the anti-symmetric mode and affect the voltage and frequency of the bifurcation jump point. Typically, we propose a mass parameter identification method based on the dynamic jump motion of the anti-symmetric mode. Numerical studies are introduced to verify the validity of mass detection method. Finally, the influence of physical parameters on the sensitivity of mass sensor is analyzed. It is found that the DC voltage and mass adsorption position are critical to the sensitivity of the sensor. The results of this paper can be potentially useful in nonlinear mass sensors.