Characterization of sputtered nickel-titanium shape memory alloy and microfabricated thermal actuators

Reduced Radius of Curvature and Optical Actuation of Nitinol Shape Memory Alloy Mems Actuators

“…Through the use of a thinner platinum (Pt) and NiTi, we have achieved a 5.45 X reduction in radius of curvature (RC) for thin film NiTi on Pt actuators that fold flat when heated beyond 60 °C. The radius of curvature reduced from 1.2 mm [1] to 220 µm, enabling devices with an overall smaller size. We have also optically actuated devices at 1.44-24.0 W/cm 2 , demonstrating actuation times from 4 ms to 240 ms.…”