2004WCT

戴文川 (Wen-Chuan Tai)

Investigation of the Three-dimensional Long-Stretch Micro Drive by Metal-based Surface Micromachining

立體微熱致動器的設計與製作

Although much work has been devoted to develop the microactuator or microstructure, few researches have been done on three-dimensional microactuators. Here a lifted micoractuator is designed by integrating an electro-thermal long stretch micro drive (LSMD) and mechanical hinge mechanism. The LSMD consists of two cascaded compliant structures in parallel. Each cascaded structure is formed by connecting several basic actuation units in series. The mechanical hinge is used to allow the LSMD to be lifted. One of the important issues in fabricating the lifted microactuator is the conducting circuit to actuate the microactuator. Here the Ni electroplating process is used to fabricate the mechanical hinge structure and the LSMD, then the mechanical hinge itself can act as the conductive circuit easily.

From the LSMD simulation results, several design parameters are found to have significant influence on the output displacements. Larger out-stretching displacements are feasible by proper choice of design parameters. The fabrication result shows that the LSMD with the hinge structure can be released and lifted successfully by the proposed metal-based surface. The testing results of nickel-made lifted LSMD (about 2000 �慆 �e 500 �慆) exhibit output displacement of 84 �慆 at input voltage of 2 volts.

[1] W.-C. Tai, C.-T. Wu, C.-P. Hsu, and W. Hsu (January 2004). Design and Fabrication of a Three-Dimensional Long-Stretch Micro Drive by Electroplating, The 17th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, Maastrict, Netherlands.