An efficient Adaptive Single-Mode Pull-In extraction algorithm for computer aided design of electrostatic MEMS devices

A novel method for extracting the Pull-In parameters of electrostatic MEMS devices is presented. This method is up to 3000 times faster than the prevalent Voltage Iteration method and up to 30 times faster than the recently presented Displacement Iteration scheme. In contrast to prevalent methods, when searching for the Pull-In state, the Adaptive Single Mode (ASM) method does not invest unnecessary computational effort to calculate other equilibrium states. To this end, a single-mode approximation of the actuator deformation is used to rapidly estimate the Pull-In parameters. Unlike common reduced order modeling approaches, increased accuracy is achieved not by additional predetermined approximation modes but rather by repeatedly adapting a single mode to better capture the deformation at the Pull-In state. To illustrate the method the clamped-clamped beam actuator is simulated.