Aerosol jetted PZT actuated fiber MEMS scanner for potential microscopic imaging

Abstract

In the past few years, the demand for various types of medical endoscopes such as of gastroscopy, laryngoscopy, and bronchoscopy has been increasing significantly. The advancement of technology has not only created a demand for more accurate and precise medical endoscopes but also created a demand for a more compact and miniaturized medical endoscopes, which could ultimately reduce pain and discomfort for patients or even prevent perforation and infections in the worst-case scenarios. In this study, a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) optical scanner is presented as a new type of medical endoscope. This optical scanner device makes use of a lead-zirconate-titanate piezoelectric (PZT) ceramic film and a chemically etched tapered optical fiber to create a push-pull actuator. The push-pull actuator is then excited to drive the optical fiber as a detector to receive optical signal. The scanner device is fabricated by using photolithography processes to define patterns on our stainless-steel sheets, which will act as the substrate, and Aerosol Deposition (AD) method to deposit thin PZT films onto our stainless-steel sheets. Even though the scanner device is in its early stages of development, we were able to achieve various scanner patterns and motions by the proposed push-pull actuator. ANSYS finite element method was also used to not only provide a fair comparison to the practical results, but also used to design the required resonant frequency that can excite the push-pull actuator