A novel SU-8 electrothermal microgripper based on type synthesis of kinematic chain method

Microgrippers act as an important role in MEMS, it is necessary to explore new and systematic approach for microgripper design. A new systematic design procedure used for chevron electrothermal actuator driven microgrippers is developed. A novel microgripper is obtained by this procedure based on type synthesis of kinematic chain method. And a geometry optimization is also carried out. By a novel processing technology, the novel SU-8 microgripper with an actuator of three layer sandwich structure is fabricated. With only 423.1 mV, 108.5 mW and 77.8 °C temperature increase at the actuator, a 68.5 μm jaws gap change is obtain. And during the operation processes, the out-of plane displacement of the tip is always lower than 0.5 μm.