> Ronda Irwin wrote:
>
> Hi,
> I am working with cantilever beams that have a large plate on the end > that
> is one-half of a parallel plate capacitor.  I  can close the capacitor
> using the electrostatic pull-in voltage, but the capacitor will not
> seperate when the voltage is turned off, even if the capacitors are
> connected directly to gound.
>
> Has anyone else experienced this problem and/or do you have any
> suggestions.
>
Hi Ronda,
your problem is well known as so called in-use sticking.
(If you are using silicon, the effect is similar to
the silicon-direct-bonding technology used to stack
wafers).  You can solve it by minimizing the
presence of water and by minimizing the contact
area (e.g. by use of dimples).


Good luck,
Lueder
--
******************************************************************
* Dipl.-Phys. L. Elbrecht
* Institute for Microsensors, -actuators, and -systems (IMSAS)
* University of Bremen, P.O. Box 330440, D28334 Bremen, Germany
* Phone: +49-421-218 4848 / Fax: +49-421-218 4774
* Email: [email protected]
* WWW:   http://www.imsas.uni-bremen.de
******************************************************************