Investigating the effect of Casimir and van der Waals attractions on the electrostatic pull-in instability of nano-actuators

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of dispersion (van der Waals and Casimir) forces on the pull-in instability of cantilever nano-actuators by considering their range of application. Adomian decomposition is introduced to obtain an analytical solution of the distributed parameter model. Dispersion forces decrease the pull-in deflection and voltage of a nano-actuator. However, the fringing field increases the pull-in deflection while decreasing the pull-in voltage of the actuator. The minimum initial gap and the detachment length of the actuator that does not stick to the substrate due to van der Waals and Casimir attractions were determined. Furthermore, the proposed approach is capable of determining the stress distribution of the actuator at the onset of instability. It is seen that Casimir and van der Waals attractions effectively reduce the maximum value of stress resultants at the onset of instability. The results indicate that Adomian decomposition is a reliable method for simulating nano-structures at submicrometer ranges.