An Experimental Investigation of the Dynamic Behavior of an In-Plane MEMS Shallow Arch Under Electrostatic Excitation

We present experimental investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of a clamped-clamped in-plane MEMS shallow arch when excited by an electrostatic force. We explore the dynamic behaviors of the in-plane motion of the shallow arches via frequency sweeps in the neighborhood of the first resonance frequency. The shallow arch response is video microscopy recorded and analyzed by means of digital imaging. The experimental data show local softening behavior for small DC and AC loads. For high voltages, the experimental investigation reveals interesting dynamics, where the arch exhibits a dynamic snap-through behavior. These attractive experimental results verify the previously reported complex behavior of in-plane MEMS arches and show promising results to implement these structures for variety of sensing and actuation applications.