Characterization of a Dipole Surface Drive Actuator With Large Travel and Force

Author

Agarwal, Manu ; Dutton, David T. ; Theil, Jeremy A. ; Bai, Qing ; Par, Evelyn ; Hoen, Storrs

Author_Institution

Agilent Labs., Palo Alto, CA

Volume

15

Issue

6

fYear

2006

Firstpage

1726

Lastpage

1734

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed study of the dynamic performance of an electrostatic surface drive actuator. This actuator is capable of producing 50 g´s of acceleration with 70 mum travel at a 30 V bias. For the first time, air operation of a dipole surface actuator is demonstrated and we describe a fabrication process that has increased device yield more than an order of magnitude. Detailed characterization of the actuator performance is enabled by the integration of a capacitive position sensor that provides 0.5 Aring resolution in a 1-Hz bandwidth. The performance of this actuator is compared with other micromachined actuators and with more conventional milliactuators

Keywords

capacitive sensors; electrostatic actuators; micromachining; 1 Hz; 30 V; capacitive position sensor; capacitive sensing; device yield; dipole surface actuator; electrostatic surface drive actuator; microactuator; micromachined actuators; micromachining; position sensing; Acceleration; Capacitive sensors; Electrodes; Electrostatic actuators; Fabrication; Geometry; Lenses; Mirrors; Optical microscopy; Sensor phenomena and characterization; 2-D actuator; actuator; air operation; capacitive sensing; dipole; electrostatic; electrostatic snap-in; fringing field forces; microactuator; micromachining; micromover; nanopositioner; position sensing; surface actuator; surface drive;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JMEMS.2006.883886

Filename

4020252