Research on thermally induced levitation mechanism using thermal creep flow

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This research estimates the micro levitation forces caused by thermal creep flow, which occurs only in regions where the Knudsen number defined as the ratio of the molecular mean free path and the characteristic length is not negligible, between two parallel plates with submicron spacings and temperature gradients. A molecular gas film lubrication equation (MGL equation) in cluding thermal creep flow effects, which is a Reynolds-type gas bearing equation for arbitrarily small spacings, and the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) technique are both utilized to calculate the air pressures generated between two parallel plates in the thermally induced levitation mechanism. An infinitely wide plate with a length of 2 mm, whose boundary temperature has an inverse-V-shaped distribution and the center temperature tau_<wc>(=T_<wcenter>lT_0-1) is 0.1, has a load-carrying capacity of about 3 mN for unit width when the spacing between the two plates is 0.1 mum.