A Bilayer Model for Incorporating the Coupled Effects of Surface Energy and Microstructure on the Electromechanical Stability of NEMS

Herein, the static and dynamic pull-in instabilities of nanotweezers and nanoswitches fabricated from conductive cylindrical nanowires are studied. A bilayer model based on the Gurtin-Murdoch surface elasticity and the consistent couple stress theory is developed to incorporate the coupled effects of surface energy and microstructure phenomenon. The differential quadrature method is employed to solve the nonlinear governing equation of the system. The effects of various parameters on the static and dynamic pull-in parameters and stability threshold of the nanostructures are demonstrated. © 2017 World Scientific Publishing Company