A novel design microgripper based on electrothermal expansion principle

In this paper, a newly modeled 3-D MEMS electrothermally actuated microgripper has been designed and simulated using COMSOL 4.3b based on finite element method (FEM). Electrothermal mechanism is the most widely used mechanism for providing large displacements at very small voltages. The new model is designed by combining asymmetric arm structure and a thin gold layer is inserted in the asymmetric arms which make it a typical bimorph structure. The microgripper presented here is electro-thermally actuated and optimized geometrically and materially to explore the effect of dimensional variation and material change on its performance. The in-plane, out of plane displacements, strain, stress, current density and temperature has been analyzed and the results are discussed.