Fabrication Of An Electrostatic Microactuator With An S-shaped Film

Abstract
We previously reported a new type of electrostatic microvalve-actuator having an S-shaped film element and showed that it is suitable for controlling the flow of gases in semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Here we propose a micro-fabrication process using nuicromachining technologies to make this type of actuator. We made a prototype actuator consisting of three stacked wafers. The upper and lower wafers had insulation layers on their surfaces and worked as electrode plates driving the S-bend of the film laterally. The middle wafer Wpported a conductive film whose total length was much greater than the supporting length. When the three wafers were stacked and bonded, the film element buckled into an S-shape. This microactuator was operated by electrostatic force when the applied voltage was more than 70 V.

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