Title :
Microactuation of suspended MEMS beams
Author :
Gattiker, Giorgio ; Kaler, Karan V.I.S. ; Mintchev, Martin P.
Author_Institution :
Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Calgary Univ., Alta., Canada
Abstract :
This study presents the design, implementation, and testing of microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based actuators. The concepts of electrostatic and thermal microactuation are discussed. Geometrically identical fixed-fixed microbeams were fabricated to compare quantitatively the two different actuation principles. The beams are implemented with Micralyne generalized MEMS (MicraGEM) technology, a silicon-on-insulator (SOI)-based microfabrication process.
Keywords :
electrostatic actuators; microactuators; micromachining; silicon-on-insulator; MEMS-based actuators; SOI; electrostatic microactuation; fixed-fixed microbeams; silicon-on-insulator based microfabrication process; suspended MEMS beams; thermal microactuation; Capacitors; Design engineering; Electrodes; Electrostatic actuators; Microactuators; Microelectromechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Silicon on insulator technology; System testing; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Circuits and Systems, 2005. ISCAS 2005. IEEE International Symposium on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8834-8
DOI :
10.1109/ISCAS.2005.1465197
