Design and fabrication of an electrothermal MEMS micro-actuator with 3D printing technology

Abstract

This study presents the design and fabrication results of an electrothermal micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) actuator. Unlike traditional one-directional U-shaped actuators, this bi-directional electrothermal (BET) micro-actuator can produce displacements in two directions as a single device. The BET micro-actuator was fabricated using two-photon polymerization (2PP) and digital light processing (DLP) methods, which are 3D printing techniques. These methods have been compared to see the success of BET micro-actuator fabrication. The compound of these methods and the essential coefficients through the 3D printing operation were applied. Evaluation experiments have demonstrated that in both methods, the 3D printer can print materials smaller than 95.7 μm size features. Though the same design was used for the 2PP and DLP methods, the supporting structures were not produced with the 2PP. The BET micro-actuator was manufactured by removing the supports from the original design in the 2PP. The number of supports, the diameter, and height on the arms of the micro-actuator is 18, 4 μm, and 6 μm, respectively. Although 4 μm diameter supports could be produced with the DLP, it was not possible to produce them with 3D printing device based on 2PP. Besides, the DLP was found to be better than the 2PP for the manufacturing of asymmetrical support structures. The fabrication process has been carried out successfully by two methods. When the fabrication success is compared, the surface quality and fabrication speed of the micro-actuator fabricated with DLP is better than the 2PP. Presented results show the efficiency of the 3D printing technology and the simplicity of fabrication of the micro-actuator via 2PP and DLP. An experimental study was carried out to characterize the relationship between displacement and input voltage for the micro-actuator. Experimental results show that the displacement range of the micro-actuator is 8 μm with DLP, while 6 μm with 2PP.

Evaluation Platform for MEMS-Actuated 3D-Printed Compliant Structures

“…Such actuators have offered significant contributions to medical robotics for both industry and academic research. The application areas include positioning and manipulation of micro devices [2], [3], surgical robots [4], micro-robots [5] and so on. MEMS-actuators employ various mechanisms, including piezoelectric [6], electrostrictive [7], electromagnetic [2] and thermo-responsive [3].…”

“…The application areas include positioning and manipulation of micro devices [2], [3], surgical robots [4], micro-robots [5] and so on. MEMS-actuators employ various mechanisms, including piezoelectric [6], electrostrictive [7], electromagnetic [2] and thermo-responsive [3]. Among these, piezoelectric devices have the advantages of fast response and high force output to weight ratio.…”

“…Among these, piezoelectric devices have the advantages of fast response and high force output to weight ratio. Therefore, piezoelectricity is advantageous for high precision and high-frequency applications [2], [3], [8].…”

A Quasi 3D Modified Strain Gradient Formulation for Static Bending of Functionally Graded Micro beams Resting on Winkler-Pasternak Elastic Foundation

“…Beams on the order of microns and sub-microns are unavoidable parts of modern world and widely used as sensors [1] , actuators [2], atomic force microscopes [3] and in micro/nano electromechanical systems (NEMS/MEMS). A number of experiments proved that when the size decreases, results of classical continuum approach are not acceptable and lead to deficiency of classical theory for capturing size effects [4], which can account the size dependencies of micro and nano structures.…”

Pin Addressing Method Based on an SVM With a Reliability Constraint in Digital Microfluidic Biochips

“…Traditional clinical disease detection usually relies on large testing equipment at a testing center, which not only takes a long time to detect diseases but also consumes a large amount of reagents and attracts great controversy due to the need to collect many biological specimens such as blood [2]. With continuing innovations in manufacturing and packaging processes, modern microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs) and microfluidic systems are being applied to combine many chemical, mechanical, or electrical devices into a single package [3][4][5][6][7]. A microfluidic chip can provide detection results in a short time by using a small number of samples, and it has a high detection sensitivity, good specificity, a simple operation process and short cycles; it has become one of the best solutions to the current problem [8].…”