Modeling the thermal behavior of a surface-micromachined linear-displacement thermomechanical microactuator

Thermomechanical microactuators possess a number of desirable attributes including ease of fabrication and large force and displacement capabilities relative to other types of microactuators. These advantages provide motivation for improving thermomechanical microactuator designs that are more energy efficient and thus better suited for low-power applications. To this end, this paper describes the development and experimental validation of a finite-difference thermal model of a thermomechanical in-plane microactuator (TIM). Comparisons between the model and experimental results demonstrate the importance Of including the temperature dependence of several parameters in the model. Strategies for reducing the power and energy requirements of the TIM were investigated using model simulations as a guide. Based on design insights gained from the model, the energy efficiency of the TIM has been improved significantly by operating in a vacuum environment and providing short-duration, high-current pulse inputs. These improvements have been validated experimentally. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.