Thermally excited silicon microactuators

Author

Riethmuller, Werner ; Benecke, Wolfgang

Author_Institution

Fraunhofer Inst. fur Mikrostrukturtech., Berlin, West Germany

Volume

35

Issue

6

fYear

1988

fDate

6/1/1988 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

758

Lastpage

763

Abstract

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

Keywords

electric actuators; elemental semiconductors; integrated circuit technology; monolithic integrated circuits; silicon; transducers; IC technology; Si-Au; bimetal effect; cantilever type micromachined actuator; design considerations; integrated polysilicon heating resistor; metal sandwich layer; thermally excited Si microactuators; transducer element; Actuators; Fabrication; Heating; Microactuators; Resistors; Silicon; Switches; Temperature; Thickness measurement; Transducers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.2528

Filename

2528