Magnetic Levitation Assisted Guide for a Linear Microactuator

There are two approaches for designing a controlled force magnetic levitation guide: one is based on attractive forces interacting between an electromagnet and a soft magnetic flux closure, the other is based on repulsive forces between electromagnets and appropriately magnetized permanent magnets. The guide system introduced here takes advantage of repulsive forces between electromagnets and permanent magnets. The chosen approach uses electromagnets in combination with permanent magnets as they enable to adapt the force by matching the coil current. For the fabrication of the magnetic guide system, thin-film technology is applied. The electromagnets consist of electroplated multilayer Cu coils while the permanent magnetic structure is fabricated by sputtering SmCo.