Development of a novel micromachined magnetostatic membrane actuator

We present work on the development of a new, micromachined magnetostatic membrane actuator. The unique aspects of this actuator lie in its design and fabrication, and in its operational simplicity. A novel micromachining process was developed for embedding micro-sized pieces of a ferromagnetic material (Permalloy, Ni/sub 80/Fe/sub 20/) into a thin, very flexible, silicone elastomer membrane (PDMS, polydimethyl siloxane). This unique design results in a membrane actuator capable of generating significantly larger membrane displacements than that of typical membrane microactuators.