AN ELECTROTHERMALLY AND LATERALLY DRIVEN POLYSILICON MICROACTUATOR

A novel electro-thermally and laterally driven microactuator made of p olysilicon has been designed, fabricated, and tested. The operational principle is based on the asymmetrical thermal expansion of the micros tructure with different lengths of two beams, but not based on the var iable cross sections of the microstructure. A microgripper to demonstr ate one possible application of the microactuator is fabricated and ch aracterized. The input voltage of this design is less than 10 dc to pr oduce 20 mu m displacement with about 0.6 mJ heat dissipation, and the maximum temperature is less than 600 degrees C. A gripping force up t o 2.8 mu N can be generated. Simulation results are compared with the experimental data and show good agreement. Some design parameters stro ngly influencing the performance of the microactuator are discussed al so.