A Robust Micro Conveyer Realized by Arrayed Polyimide Joint Actuators Thorbjörn Ebefors, Johan U. Mattsson, Edvard Kälvesten and Göran Stemme

Presented at the 12th IEEE Int. Conference on MicroElectroMechanical Sytems (MEMS'99) Orlando, USA January 17-21, 1999, pp. 576-581.

Abstract A new micro motion system (micro-conveyer) based on arrays of movable robust silicon legs has been developed and investigated. The motion is achieved by thermal actuation of polyimide joint actuators using electrical heating. Successful experiments on moving flat objects in the millimeter range with high load capacity have been performed. The conveyer consists of a 15x5 mmchip with 12 silicon legs each 500 µm long. The maximum load conveyed on the structure was 2000 mg. Conveyance velocities up to 12 mm/s have been measured. Accelerated life-time measurements demonstrate the long-term stability of the actuators. The function of the polyimide joint actuators is unaffected after more than 2E8 load cycles. Click here to download the full-text paper.