Design of a Graphene Nanoribbon Electrostatic Discharge Compliant Mechanism

This paper investigates the design of an electrostatic discharge protection device made of single-layer graphene nanoribbons. The device is meant to trigger electrostatic discharge at a target voltage of 1.5V. Other design requirements include the minimization of parasitic capacitance, electrical response time and mechanical response time. The device is designed to discharge static electricity by being pulled to ground through electrostatic forces, then making contact with ground before returning to its original position. Previous designs experienced repeatability issues due to a lack of securing the ribbon and mechanical failure due to high stresses at the boundary conditions. New designs are presented and optimized to maintain a high effective spring constant for the device while reducing stress during electrostatic pull-in. A single-degree of freedom model is used in conjunction with the Bernoulli-Euler beam equations and Castigliano’s method to guide the design process. Behavior of each design is validated, and repeatability is assessed using finite-element simulations. The new designs are to be fabricated using a low pressure chemical vapor deposition process.