Thermally excited inchworm actuators and stepwise micromotors: analysis and fabrication

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Abstract
Thermal actuation using a bimorph structure has been combined with electrostatic actuation in cantilever devices. An analytical model was given for thermal actuation, where temperature dependent internal stress in both layers was included in 1D beam equations. The results were compared with the test results and numerical simulation results and showed good agrement. A novel micromotor was designed and fabricated to demonstrate one possible application. The force created by the bimorph actuator is in micro Newton range, and transient thermal power less than 50mW is enough to turn rotors with a diameter of 250 micrometers . Potential applications of the micromotor are accurate positioning of active and passive devices including lasers and micromirrors, and light modulation as an optical shutter.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

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