Modeling and simulation of a MEMS thermal actuator with polysilicon heater

This paper describes the modeling and simulation of a MEMS thermal actuator which is heated by a polysilicon heater. The geometry of the structure was simplified to a one-dimensional structure in order to calculate the temperature profile and the resulting displacement. During the calculations also the stress distribution is obtained. Next to the modeling, the structure was simulated using the finite-element method. As the temperature profile depends on the displacement of the actuator, an iterative simulation approach was adopted. The structures were fabricated and their characteristics showed good agreement with modeled and simulated results.