Switching time, impact velocity and release response, of voltage and charge driven electrostatic switches

In this work we analyze the un-damped response of charge-driven and voltage-driven electrostatic switches. We show that charge actuation can drastically reduce the impact velocity between the movable and fixed electrodes and reduce unwanted vibrations during switch release. In voltage-driven switches, a considerable reduction of the impact velocity and switch-release vibrations can only be achieved by damping forces, which inevitably increase the switching time. We also show that in capacitive switches, charge actuation considerably reduces the maximal electrostatic field within the dielectric layer. This suggests that charge actuation can be used to reduce dielectric charging of capacitive switches.