Cs. Pan et Wy. Hsu, AN ELECTROTHERMALLY AND LATERALLY DRIVEN POLYSILICON MICROACTUATOR, Journal of micromechanics and microengineering, 7(1), 1997, pp. 7-13
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.