An AlN piezoelectric microactuator array

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterisation of a piezoelectric microactuator array, the key component of a remotely controlled, wireless, solar powered microsystem which should be capable of locomotion. The walking principle mimics the elliptical leg motion of walking animals by using a combination of multiple DOF surface micromachined piezoelectric actuators associated with wafer-through etched features that transmit and amplify the piezo-induced motion to the backside of the wafer. Aluminium nitride has been chosen as the thin film piezoelectric material since it is highly insulating and can be deposited repeatedly with very high quality. The characterisation of the fabricated structure shows very promising results in view of meeting the wireless locomotion challenge