Phase maps of microelectromechanical switches in the presence of electrostatic and Casimir forces

In this paper we explore the influence of self-affine roughness on the phase maps for switches used in nano- and/or microelectromechanical devices in the presence of the Casimir and electrostatic forces. It is shown that the phase map depends significantly on the characteristic roughness parameters (roughness amplitude w, correlation length ξ, and roughness exponent H). The phase maps depend sensitively on the short wavelength roughness as it is described by the roughness exponent H. For conditions close to instability the precise knowledge of the latter is highly important since minor variations of H(±0.05) cause the system to become unstable that if both electrostatic and Casimir forces are acting.