Micro-electro-thermo-magnetic Actuators for MEMS Applications

MEMS;Actuator;Buckling;Electromagnetic;Thermal;Thermomagnetic;Electrothermomagnetic;Micromotor;Microbridge;Fixed-Fixed beam;System Design Engineering

Forouzanfar, Sepehr

University of Waterloo

关键词: MEMS;    Actuator;    Buckling;    Electromagnetic;    Thermal;    Thermomagnetic;    Electrothermomagnetic;    Micromotor;    Microbridge;    Fixed-Fixed beam;    System Design Engineering;   

Others  :  https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/10012/3605/1/Thesis.pdf

瑞士|英语

来源: UWSPACE Waterloo Institutional Repository

【 摘 要 】

This research focuses on developing new techniques and designs for highly con-trollable microactuating systems with large force-stroke outputs. A fixed-fixed mi-crobeam is the actuating element in the introduced techniques. Either bucklingof a microbridge by thermal stress, lateral deflection of a microbridge by electro-magnetic force, or combined effects of both can be employed for microactuation.The proposed method here is MicroElectroThermoMagnetic Actuation (METMA),which uses the combined techniques of electrical or electro-thermal driving of a mi-crobridge in the presence of a magnetic field. The electrically controllable magneticfield actuates and controls the electrically or electrothermally driven microstruc-tures. METMA provides control with two electrical inputs, the currents drivingthe microbridge and the current driving the external magnetic field. This methodenables a more controllable actuating system. Different designs of microactuatorshave been implemented by using MEMS Pro as the design software and MUMPs asthe standard MEMS fabrication technology. In these designs, a variety of out-of-plane buckling or displacement of fixed-fixed microbeams have been developed andemployed as the actuating elements. This paper also introduces a novel actuatingtechnique for larger displacements that uses a two-layer buckling microbridge actu-ated by METMA. Heat transfer principles are applied to investigate temperaturedistribution in a microbeam, electrothermal heating, and the resulting thermoelas-tic effects. Furthermore, a method for driving microactuators by applying powerfulelectrical pulses is proposed. The integrated electromagnetic and electrothermalmicroactuation technique is also studied. A clamped-clamped microbeam carry-ing electrical current has been modeled and simulated in ANSYS. The simulationsinclude electrothermal, thermoelastic, electromagnetic, and electrothermomagneticeffects. The contributions are highlighted, the results are discussed, the researchand design limitations are reported, and future works are proposed.