Measurement of Casimir Force between Monolithic Silicon Microstructures

We present measurements of the Casimir force between silicon components in a near-planar geometry. We create the device from a silicon-on-insulator wafer using microfabrication. It contains a force-sensing micromechanical beam and an electrostatic comb actuator for controlling the distance. The two lithographically-defined micromechanical components are on the same silicon substrate and are automatically aligned after fabrication. Thus, we can achieve a high degree of parallelism between the two interacting surfaces. We employ a magneto-motive technique to measure the shift in the resonance frequency of the force sensing beam. Periodic Lorentz forces are exerted on the beam when an ac current is applied in a perpendicular magnetic field. As the movable electrode is pushed towards the silicon beam by the comb drives, the Casimir force increases. The force gradient is proportional to the resonance frequency shift of the beam. After the calibration using electrostatic forces and balancing the residual voltage, we measure the Casimir force gradient. Our results are in reasonable agreement with theoretical calculations, considering possible contributions of patch potentials. Apart from providing a compact platform for Casimir force measurements, this scheme also opens new opportunities for the measurement of Casimir force in complex geometries.