Fabrication and characterization of magnetostrictive cantilever beams for magnetic actuation

The need for magnetostrictive materials is growing for applications in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and microelectronic devices due to their ability to enable remote control via magnetic fields. This work studies an alloy of iron and gallium, Galfenol (thin films), and its magnetostrictive properties on a nano scale, finding approaches to increase the magnetostriction coefficient of thin-film Galfenol in the magnetostrictive cantilever beam fabrication process. One goal of this work is to build a non-direct contact micro actuator for use as a drug delivery device to the human eye, using Galfenol as the magnetostrictive material.