The Scaling of

Micromechanical Devices
by
William Trimmer
This material is adapted from the article Microrobots and Micromechanical Systems
by W. S. N. Trimmer, Sensors and Actuators, Volume 19, Number 3, September 1989,
pages 267 - 287, and other sources. The book "Micromechanics and MEMS" has this
and other interesting articles on small mechanical systems; published by the IEEE
Press, number PC4390, ISBN 0-7803-1085-3. A more detailed analysis of the scaling
of electromagnetic forces is given in the Appendix to Microrobots and
Micromechanical Systems.
A nice description of scaling is given in Trimmers Vertical Bracket Notation in the
book Fundamentals of Microfabrication by Marc Madou, ISBN 0-8493-9451-1,
CRC Press 1997.

To design micromechanical actuators, it is helpful to understand how forces scale. A

simple notation for understanding multiple force laws and equations is described
below. This notation is used to describe how different forces scale into the small (and
large) domain.
This paper uses a matrix formalism to describe the scaling laws. This nomenclature
shows a number of different force laws in a single equation. In this notation, the size
of the system is represented by a single scale variable, S, which represents the linear
scale of the system. The choice of S for a system is a bit arbitrary. The S could be the
separation between the plates of a capacitor, or it could be the length of one edge of
the capacitor. Once chosen, however, it is assumed that all dimensions of the system
are equally scaled down in size as S is decreased (isometric scaling). For example,
nominally S = 1; if S is then changed to 0.1, all the dimensions of the system are
decreased by a factor of ten. A number of different cases are shown in one equation.
For example,

shows four cases for the force law. The top force law scales as S, next scales as S
squared or S2 (I hope this appears as S superscript 2 on your screen, one never knows
with the web), the next as S3, and the bottom as S4. The scaling of the time required
to move an object using these forces is given as

The top element in equation 2 is S 1.5. This is how the time scales when the force
scales as S1. The second element shows that t scales as S 1 when the force scales as
S2. The third and forth element show how the time scales when the force scales as S 3
and S4 respectively. This notation is used consistently throughout this paper. A dash
[] means that this case does not apply.
This vertical bracket notation can be used for other scaling laws. For example, if one
had a desire the top element could refer to the case where the force scales as S 6. Or
the top element could represent to the case where the acceleration scales as S 1, and the
second element represent the case where the acceleration scales as S 2 , ... . These
vertical brackets can be defined for the convenience of the problem at hand. All that
is needed is the initial definition of what each element represents. (Equation 1 is this
definition in our present case.)

Magnetic Forces
This Section examines the scaling of magnetic forces caused by the interactions of
electrical currents. Three cases are examined: A) constant temperature rise from the
center to the exterior of the coil windings, B) constant heat flow per unit surface
area of the coil windings, and C) constant electrical current density in the coil
windings. Assumption A) leads to forces that scale as S 2, assumption B) leads to
forces that scale as S3, and assumption C) leads to forces that scale as S 4. These three
cases are depicted in equation 2.5. The derivation of this force scaling requires a bit
of math and will not be given here. This derivation is given in the appendix of
Microrobots and Micromechanical Systems.

(I have no idea why my equation editor gives rounded brackets in the equation above,
instead of the square brackets I wish. Oh, well.)
The above force scaling is for the case of two electrical currents interacting. As S
decreases, these forces decrease because it is difficult to generate large magnetic fields
with small coils of wire (electromagnets). However permanent magnets maintain
their strength as they are scaled down in size, and it is often advantageous to design
magnetic systems that use the interaction between an electromagnet and a permanent
magnet. In the discussion below the scaling between two electromagnets will be
given in square brackets [ Sn ], and the scaling between a permanent magnet and an
electromagnet will be given in curly brackets { S n }.
Case C) Here the current density J is assumed to be constant or J = S 0, and hence a
wire with one tenth the area carries one tenth the current. The heat generated per
volume of windings is constant for this case. The force generated for this constant
current case scales as [ S4 ] { S3 }, i e., when the system decreases by a factor of ten in
size, the force generated by two interacting electromagnets decreases by (1 / 10) 4, or a

factor of ten thousand. Clearly this is not a strong micro force. (However, on the
galactic scale, magnetic forces become truly impressive. Looking at the spiral arms of
the S and SB galaxies, I wonder how these large magnetic fields effect the complex
twisting of galactic matter.)
Case B) Since heat can be more easily conducted out of a small volume, it is possible
to run isolated small motors with higher current densities than assumed above.
However, increasing the current density makes the motors much less efficient. (Note,
electronics is usually much more wasteful of power than the micromechanical
components, and the power used by the motor is often insignificant.) If the heat flow
per unit surface area of the windings is constant, the current density in the wires scales
as J = S-0.5 This increase in current density for small systems increases the force
generated, and the force scales as [ S3 ] { S2.5 } .
Case A) A third possible constraint on the magnetic system as it is scaled down is the
maximum temperature the wire and insulation can withstand. If the system
parameters are scaled so that there is a constant temperature difference between the
windings and surrounding environment, then the current density scales as J = ( S -1 )
and the force scales as [ S2 ] { S2 } As will be discussed later, forces that scale as
( S2 ) are useful in small systems. Hence in many micro designs, it may be
advantageous to use the aggressive increase in current density assumed in case A.
In summary, the currents required for the different force laws scale as:

These current scaling are the result of the assumptions in Case A, Case B, and Case C)
and generate the forces:

In designing micro electromagnets, one must also consider electromigration. At high

current densities, tiny wires are deformed by the current and the wire can break. For
example thin aluminum interconnects at current densities higher than 5 x 10 5 A/ cm2
show the development of voids and hillocks which can lead to coil failure. The
temperature, composition and length of time the conductor is used have a large effect
on the electromigration. (References: [1] A.Scorzoni et al., "Non-Linear Resistance
Behavior in the Early Stages and After Electromigration in Al-Si lines", J. Appl.
Phys., 80 (1), p.143 (1996). and [2] A.Scorzoni, I.De Munari and H. Stulens, "NonDestructive Electrical Techniques as Means for Understanding the Basic Mechanisms
of Electromigration", MRS Symposia Proceedings, Vol.337, pp.515--526 (1994).)
Electrostatic forces
Electrostatic actuators have a distinguished history, but are not in general use for
motors. (If you can, get a copy of the delightful book by O. D. Jefimenko,
"Electrostatic Motors," Published by Electret Science Company, Star city, 1973. It is
difficult to find, but contains beautiful illustrations of early electrostatic motors.)
Electrostatic forces, however, become significant in the micro domain and have
numerous potential applications. The exact form of the scaling of electrostatic forces
depends upon how the E field changes with size. Generally, the breakdown E field of
insulators increases as the system becomes smaller. Two cases will be examined here:
(1) constant E field ( E= S0 ); and (2) an E field that increases slightly as the system
becomes smaller (E = S-0.5 ). This second case exemplifies the increasing E fields
one can use as the system is scaled down. (An early paper by Paschen discusses the
increase in the breakdown E field as a gap becomes smaller. F. Paschen, Uber die
zum Funkenubergang in Luft, Wasserstoff and Kohlensaure bei verschiedenen
Drucken erforderliche Potentialdifferenz. Annalen der Physick, 37:69-96, 1889. Also
Marc Madou's book "Fundamentals of Microfabrication" has a description and plot of
Paschen's curve on page 59.)
For the constant electric field ( E = S0 ) the force scales as S2 When E scales as S-

0.5

, then the force has the even better scaling of F = S1 . When the size of the system
is decreased, both of these force laws give increasing accelerations and smaller transit
times.

Other forces
There are several other interesting forces. Biological forces from muscle are
proportional to the cross section of the muscle, and scale as S2 Pneumatic and
hydraulic forces are caused by pressures (P) and also scale as S2. Large forces can
be generated in the micro domain using pressure related forces. Surface tension has
an absolutely delightful scaling of S1 , because it depends upon the length of the
interface.
The unit cube
Below is a discussion of how the above force laws affect the acceleration, transit time,
power generation and power dissipation as one scales to smaller domains. In going
from here to there as quickly as possible with a certain force, one wants to accelerate
for half the distance, and then decelerate. The mass of the object scales as S3 (density
is assumed to be intensive, or to not change with scale). Now the acceleration is given
by equations of dynamics as:

and the transit time is:

where SF represents the scaling of the force F. Here only the time to accelerate has
been calculated, but an equal time is needed to decelerate, and both these times scale
in the same way. For the forces given in equation (1), the accelerations and transit
times can be expressed as

and

Even in the worst case, where F = S4 (the bottom element), the time required to
perform a task remains constant, t = S0 , when the system is scaled down. Under more
favorable force scaling, for example, the F = S2 scaling case, the time required
decreases as t = S1 with the scale. A system ten times smaller can perform an
operation ten times faster. This is an observation that we know intuitively: small
things tend to be quick.
Inertial forces tend to become insignificant in the small domain, and in many cases
kinematics may replace dynamics. This will probably lead to interesting new control
strategies.
Power generated and dissipated
As the scale of a system is changed, one wants to know how the power produced
depends upon the force laws. For example, consider the unit cube above, which is first
accelerated and then decelerated. The power, P, or the work done on the object per
unit time is

The scaling of each of the terms on the right is known.

The power that can be produced per unit volume ( V= S3 ) is

When the force scales as S2 then the power per unit volume scales as S-1 . For
example, when the scale decreases by a factor of ten, the power that can be generated
per unit volume increases by a factor of ten. For force laws with a higher power than
S2 , the power generated per volume degrades as the scale size decreases. There are
several attractive force laws that behave as S2, and one should try to use these forces

when designing small systems. (Please remember, these force laws depend upon
general assumptions, there is always room to be clever.)
For the magnetic case, one may be concerned about the power dissipated by the
resistive loss of the wires. The power due to this resistive loss, P R, is

where A is the cross section of the wire, (rho) is the resistivity of the wire, and L is the
length of the wire. This gives

where (A L) is the volume. The resistivity scales as S0 and the volume scales as S3
and from equation (3) above,

Hence the power dissipated scales as:

and the power per unit volume is:

For the magnetic case A) where force scales as S2, the power that must be dissipated
per unit volume scales as S-2 , or, when the scale is decreased by a factor of ten, a
hundred times as much power must be dissipated within a set volume. This magnetic
case is bad if one is concerned about power density or the amount of cooling needed.
If power dissipation or cooling are not a critical concern, then this scaling case
produces more substantial forces. In the future, superconductors may give us stronger
micro electromagnets.
Summary of the scaling results
The force has been found to scale in one of four different ways: [ S 1 ] , [ S2 ] , [ S3 ] ,
and [ S4 ] . If the scale size is decreased by a factor of ten, the forces for these
different laws decrease by ten, one hundred, one thousand, and ten thousand
respectively. In most cases, one wants to work with force laws that behave as [ S 1 ] or
[ S2 ] . The different cases that lead to these force laws, the accelerations, the transit
times, and the power generated per unit volume are given below.

and

For the force laws that behave as [ S 1 ] or [ S2 ] , the acceleration increases as one
scales down the system. The power that can be produced per unit volume also
increases for these two laws. The surface tension scales advantageously, [ S 1 ] ,
however, it is not clear how to use this force in most applications. Biological forces
also scale well, [ S2 ] but may be difficult to implement. Electrostatic and pressure
related forces appear to be quite useful forces in the small domain.

The main page is http://www.trimmer.net

Return to MEMS at trimmer.net (TM)
William Trimmer's Home Page Source for Micromechanics & MEMS &
Other Web Sites & Journals & Books.
- If you have comments or suggestions, or an interest in using MEMS, e-mail
William Trimmer at william@trimmer.net