The Casimir effect between micromechanical components on a silicon chip

Abstract

The Casimir force originates from quantum fluctuations. While this force is too weak to have any measurable effects between objects at separations larger than ~10 μm it dominates the interaction between electrically neutral surfaces at the nanoscale. By fabricating a doubly clamped microbeam for sensing the force and a comb actuator to control the distance, we demonstrate that the Casimir force can become the dominant interaction between components within the same silicon chip.