A new model for stability analysis of electromechanical nano-actuator based on Gurtin-Murdoch and consistent couple-stress theories

Herein, the pull-in instability of cantilever NEMS is studied considering the presence of dispersion forces and squeezed film damping. Recently developed consistent couple stress theory in combination with the Gurtin-Murdoch elasticity is employed to incorporate the coupled effects of size phenomena and surface energy. The governing equation was solved using Rayleigh-Ritz method. Effects of various parameters including surface layer, size dependency, dispersion forces and damping on the pull-in characteristics of the nano-actuator are discussed