A novel dual-axis electrostatic microactuation system for micromanipulation

This paper presents the design, fabrication, modeling, and control of a dual-axis electrostatic microactuation system. To form the 3D structure only three masks are used on silicon-on-insulator wafers using deep reactive ion etching. The bulk micromachined high aspect ratio structure produces large force output, achieving the full motion range with 10.7 V in x and 70.1 V in y. To provide position feedback for high precision manipulation, a capacitive position sensing mechanism, capable of resolving position changes up to 5 μm with a resolution of 0.01 μm in both x and y is integrated. A nonlinear model inversion technique is proposed for nonlinear electrostatic microactuation system identification and improving system linearity and response. The effectiveness of the technique was verified in experiments. Applications of the system include micromanipulation and microassembly.