In electrostatic suspension system of thin plates like a silicon wafer or an aluminum disk for hard disk applications, the lateral restoring force exerted on a suspended object plays an important role since the lateral motion of the suspended object, owing to the inherently stable restoring forces, can be passively stabilized without any active control of it. This paper reports about the measurement apparatus of the lateral restoring force originating from a relative translation of the suspended object with respect to the electrodes-for-suspension. An approximate calculation of the lateral force in disk-shaped objects, the structure of the measurement apparatus, a measurement method, stabilization condition and the guideline in designing the measurement apparatus are described. Experimental results obtained by using a 3.5-inch aluminum disk as a suspended object are presented as well in order to assess the magnitude of lateral force and stiffness, and also verify the usefulness of the measurement apparatus.
