Enhancement in structure stability of gold micro-cantilever by constrained fixed-end in MEMS devices

Abstract

This paper reports effects of the constraint condition at fixed end of the Ti/Au-layered micro-cantilever on the structure stability. Two types of constraint at the fixed end were used. One was constraining only bottom surface of the fixed end, and the other was constraining both top and bottom surfaces of the fixed end. The evaluation was conducted by observing the deformation by a 3D optical microscope and FEM simulation using the COMSOL Multiphysics software. From optical microscope observations, the top and bottom constrained micro-cantilevers showed a lower deflection at the tip, and the average deformation was also lowered. The FEM simulation revealed similar results as the optical microscope results. The fixed end was found to deform along as the body of the micro-cantilever deformed from the FEM simulation. Hence, the constraint condition at the fixed end contributes greatly to the overall structure stability of the Ti/Au micro-cantilevers.