Micro ICPF actuators for aqueous sensing and manipulation

This paper presents the results of our ongoing investigation of using Nation solution to construct nticron scale actuators as grippers to operate under aqueous environment. Thus far, we have demonstrated that MEMS-based fabrication of cantilever structures composed of Au/Nafion/Au tri-layers on silicon substrates is possible using Nation solution. The smallest actuators fabricated were 30 mum wide, 300 mum long and 0.4 mum thick. We have shown that two-finger actuators (each 100 mum wide, 1200 mum long and 0.4 mum thick) can be fully actuated in water at similar to7 V DC. In addition, with a special sacrificial release process, micro ICPF structures can be made to curl whenever they come in contact with water, and can be de-curled instantaneously when they are immersed in acid, suggesting that they can be used in sensing pH level changes. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.