Micromechanical comb actuators with low driving voltage

Abstract

Comb actuators with submicrometer-wide suspensions have been fabricated and tested. Measurements proved that they are reliable devices for displacements in the range of several micrometers with a precision in the tens of nanometers. Due to the very flexible suspensions (10 mN m-1) only low voltages-around 20 V- were required for the actuation. As an application, the author have fabricated and characterized an xy microstage which allows precise two-dimensional positioning. The limits of the devices were also tested. A main source of problems is the sticking phenomenon. Depending on the design of the actuator, the movable comb will, at a critical voltage, either stick on the sides of the fixed fingers (side sticking) or on the front ends of the fixed finger (front sticking). Analytical calculations, simulation and measurements are compared.

Fabrication and characterizations of a monolithic PZT microstage

“…State-of-the-art of driving a microstage is usually based on electromagnetic (Cho and Ahn 2003; Rothuizen et al 2000), electrostatic (Jaecklint et al 1992;Kim et al 2003;Shutov et al 2003), electrothermal Yang et al 2005) and piezoelectric actuators (Gao et al 1999;Kudoh et al 1990). Each of them has its own characteristics.…”

Development of a MEMS repulsive actuator for large out-of-plane force

“…A number of linear micro actuators, electrothermal [6], electromagnetic [7][8], electrostatic [9][10] have been demonstrated in MOEMS. The performance of these actuators has been limited [6][7][8][9][10].…”

Computation of capacitance and electrostatic forces for the electrostatically driving actuators considering fringe effects

“…Accurate estimation of electrostatic forces or driven voltages on the MEMS structures is very important for efficient design and performance even subsequent use of the electrostatically driving devices (Jaecklin et al 1992;Chen and Miao 2007;Kang et al 2009;Harness and Syms 2000;Beyeler et al 2009). This in turn requires profound investigations on the capacitance of the mechanical structures and the charge density distribution on the surfaces of the MEMS devices.…”