Nanocharacterization of the adhesion effect and bending stiffness in optical MEMS

•The MEMS structures electroplated from gold are suspended at 3μm above the silicon substrate. Different configurations of gold micromembranes are investigated in order to determine the proper geometry that is less sensitive to a thermal gradient and that provides small adhesion force between flexible part and substrate. The influence of temperature on stiffness was investigated by changing the temperature within the range of 20–100°C. Investigations were performed in an environmental controlled chamber with an atomic force microscope XE 70.•Different configurations of microbridges are investigated in order to determine the proper geometrical configuration that is less sensitive to a thermal gradient. A constant cross-section beam is considered as a reference structure and it is compared with the other tested samples fabricated in the same geometrical dimensions but with some additional rectangular holes performed on the flexible plate. The scope of the fabricated rectangular holes is to reduce the temperature influence on the behaviour of clamp-clamp beam for applications where a thermal gradient occurs.•The investigated micromembranes were also numerically analyzed with the Finite Element method using ANSYS Workbench 13.0 software. The numerical values of stiffness and adhesion are compared with analytical and experimental results.•The research results are useful for designers to predict the behaviour of material and structurefor optical or thermal applications in order to improve the MEMS reliability and lifetime.