Fully integrated thermally actuated SOI diaphragm: Design, fabrication & characterization

This paper presents theoretical study and experimental results of fully integrated thermally actuated diaphragm. Finite element method (FEM) has been used to simulate and optimize the performance of the actuated diaphragm. It predicts the deflection behavior under definite power actuation and pressure. Heat transfer analysis is conducted to evaluate temperature field distribution. Some structures have been realized using IC compatible process on SOI wafers for high displacements under low driving power. The results show a difference lower than 4% between experiments under pressure and theoretical predictions.