New opportunities for microactuators

Microactuators fabricated by an IC-based micromachining technique are reviewed. The microactuators are driven by various forces suitable in the microdomain. The advantages and the limitations of fabrication processes suggest that microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs) in which microactuators play a key role would be completely different from simple miniaturization of macro-machines. A possible architecture oriented toward MEMSs is a system composed of many smart micromodules, each module having a microactuator, sensors and electrical circuits integrated in itself. As an example, a ciliary motion system and its actuators are explained. Promising applications of MEMSs seem to be in optics, magnetic and optical heads, fluidics, handling cells and macromolecules, and microscopy with microprobes such as scanning tunneling microscopes and atomic force microscopes.<>