Thermally excited silicon microactuators

A cantilever-type micromachined silicon actuator based on the bimetal effect used extensively for the fabrication of temperature-controlled electrical switches is described. The silicon actuator consists of a Si-metal sandwich layer and an integrated poly-Si heating resistor as a driving element. Due to the low heat capacity of the transducer element, a high temperature increase per input power unit can be achieved. For a (Si-Au)-cantilever-type actuator, 500-μm long and several micrometers thick, a specific deflection of approximately 0.1 μm/K at the free end has been measured. The design considerations, fabrication process, and experimental results of the actuator are discussed