Polysilicon microgripper

Author

Kim, Chang-Jin ; Pisano, Albert P. ; Muller, Richard S. ; Lim, Martin G.

Author_Institution

Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center, California Univ., CA, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

4-7 June 1990

Firstpage

48

Lastpage

51

Abstract

A polysilicon, electrostatic, comb-drive microgripper has been designed, fabricated, and tested. Its main features are a flexible, cantilever comb-drive arm with a bidirectional actuation scheme and an overrange protector. Three different electromechanical models are developed and, along with fabrication constraints, are employed to design the microgripper and to simulate its performance. Experiments have demonstrated that a gripping range of 10 mu m can be accommodated with an applied potential of 20 V. The motion dependence on drive voltage has been measured and compared with model prediction. The gripper motion is observed to be smooth, stable, and controllable. Measurements were made up to the maximum of the voltage source (50 V).<>

Keywords

electric actuators; electrostatic devices; elemental semiconductors; robots; silicon; 20 to 50 V; Si; bidirectional actuation scheme; cantilever comb-drive arm; comb-drive microgripper; drive voltage; electromechanical models; electrostatic devices; fabrication constraints; model prediction; overrange protector; Capacitors; Drives; Electrostatics; Grippers; Motion measurement; Predictive models; Protection; Teeth; Testing; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, 1990. 4th Technical Digest., IEEE

Conference_Location

Hilton Head Island, SC, USA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SOLSEN.1990.109818

Filename

109818