Thermally driven polysilicon actuators for lateral displacement

Abstract

A novel one-mask; polysilicon actuator driven by thermal expansion is developed, modeled and tested. The structures are heated by electric current due to resistive dissipation. Thermal strain is magnified by two mechanical mechanisms-lever and parallelogram. The device is tested in air and has a lateral 8 mu m-displacement by applying a low voltage (below 3.5 V). The critical current to reach melting point is about 67 mA with the input voltage less than 5 V. The simulation results by analytical and FEM schemes are compared with experimental data. The maximum output forces is measured with a built-in cantilever beam and is calculated to be about 3.3 mu N.