Stability analysis of electrostatic nanotweezers

► The pull-in instability of electrostatically actuated nanotweezers considering the dispersion forces is studied using distributed and lumped parameter models. ► Closed-form solutions are obtained for electrostatic nanotweezers. ► Numerical simulations of electrostatic microtweezers, freestanding nanotweezers, and electrostatic nanotweezers are performed. ► Analytical and numerical solutions are compared with those of the corresponding switch. In addition, the results of the distributed and lumped parameter models are compared. ► The detachment length and minimum initial gap of nanotweezers are determined.