Soft polymer MEMS

This paper presents a fabrication process for soft all-polymer MEMS actuators. This process allows high-aspect ratio conductive and non-conductive polymer features to be fabricated together in-plane. This process has been used to realize robust thermal actuators that have demonstrated displacements as large at 100 μm and forces as high as 55 μN. Since the actuators are fabricated with elastomeric materials, they are very robust and can undergo large strains in both tension and bending and still operate once released.