Complex Nonlinear Dynamics in Electrostatic Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS)

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This integrative systems proposal focuses on exploring complex nonlinear dynamics in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and system-on-a-chip applications containing MEMS. A number of computational design tools based on sophisticated numerical techniques and algorithms have been developed over the last decade to accelerate the progress in the area of MEMS. A number of these computational design tools have been optimized for static analysis of MEMS. The dynamical behavior of MEMS can be highly nonlinear because of complex interactions between various energy domains and very few studies have been performed so far to fully uncover all the interesting and novel dynamics. Intellectual Merit: It is proposed to (1) develop efficient computational design tools for fast and accurate dynamical analysis of MEMS by employing hierarchical physical theories and Lagrangian descriptions for the various mixed-energy domains and by combining the mixed-energy domains by efficient and accurate algorithms; (2) elucidate the significance of all the nonlinear forces present in MEMS. In particular, the proposed research aims to understand, physically, the origin of complex oscillations and nonlinear dynamics to explore various applications of complex oscillations and nonlinear dynamics encountered in MEMS. Some of the envisioned applications include chaotic microfluidic mixers, MEMS filters with shiftable resonant frequencies, arrays of MEMS and MEMS devices integrated with circuits for system-on-a-chip applications. Broader Impacts: The proposed research can have a broader impact as it can help accelerate the design and development of a variety of microscale sensors and actuators, microsystems-on-a-chip, secure communications, electronic applications, and MEMS based chemical and biological sensors. Training of graduate students in the areas of MEMS, computational methods and dynamics, incorporation of results from this project into graduate courses offered at UIUC is some of the planned educational activities.