| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| MEMS and NEMS | Thursday Sessions |
| Session MN-ThA |
| Session: | Integration, Packaging and Reliability of MEMS and NEMS |
| Presenter: | Y. Gerson, Tel Aviv University, Israel |
| Authors: | Y. Gerson, Tel Aviv University, Israel R.B. Ilic, Cornell University S.L. Krylov, Tel Aviv University, Israel |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
We report on an approach allowing efficient tuning of the bistability properties in large displacement micro actuators. The devices fabricated from highly doped silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers using Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) based process incorporate elastic suspension realized as a pair of initially curved beams and are operated electrostatically by a comb-drive transducer. The tuning principle is based on the control of the initial elevation and consequently of stability characteristics of the suspension by passing a current through the beams and electrothermal heating of the beams’s material. Experimental results, which are in good agreement with the Finite Elements model predictions, demonstrate the feasibility of the suggested approach and show that the application of a tuning current significantly increases the device deflection and allows efficient control of the critical snap-through and snap-back voltages.