Touchdown is the only finite time singularity in a three-dimensional MEMS model

Abstract

Touchdown is shown to be the only possible finite time singularity that may take place in a free boundary problem modeling a three-dimensional microelectromechanical system. The proof relies on the energy structure of the problem and uses smoothing effects of the semigroup generated in $L^1$ by the bi-Laplacian with clamped boundary conditions.