Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore 560 012, India
Think big about small things!
ME237
Introduction to MEMS
Jan.-Apr. 2005
Instructor: G. K.
Ananthasuresh, Room 106, ME Building, suresh at
mecheng.iisc.ernet.in
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Homework #1
Assigned: Jan. 6th, 2005
Due: Jan. 11th, 2005
Points: 25
Please look at the practice problems
before
you solve this homework. Both practice problems are
now solved in this pdf file now.
-
10 points
Read both the papers by Richard Feynman. Read them again. And again.
Now, think about what aspects of his vision have come true in the field
of MEMS and related areas. Choose any one
aspect, research it, and discuss it briefly. For example, since 1959, has
the resolving power of electron microscope gone up by a factor of 100
as he had asked? What are the limits of data storage today? Try to be unique and imaginative in your selection of the little
thing you would briefly discuss. Just a few lines or a little
paragraph is all you need to write.
-
5 points
Dimensional analysis is very useful to understand scaling effects. It is
also useful when we do calculations by using scaled up or scaled down
units.
Obtain the dimensions (in terms of M (mass), L (length), T (Time), C
(charge)) of magnetic flux density. In magnetics, permeability of free
space is a fundamental constant. Get the dimension of that as well.
-
10 points
A consequence of scaling effect is that with micromechanical structures
we can achieve
very high natural frequencies. By taking the example of a thin circular
plate
clamped around the entire edge, show that it is true. Assume that the
thickness of the plate is 1/50 th of its diameter, and plot the natural
frequency as a function of the length scale.