Design, Modeling and Parametric Analysis of Chevron Shaped Electrothermal Actuator Using Low Cost MetalMUMPS Fabrication Process

Abstract

High force and large displacement at the low actuation voltage is the primary concern for the micro actuators to be used for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based devices. The electrothermal actuators are distinctive in terms of providing large output displacement and force generation at reasonably low actuation voltages. This paper presents the design, modeling and parametric study of the chevron-shaped electrothermal actuator designed by following the design rules of commercially available low cost MetalMUMPS fabrication process. The material properties of electroplated Nickel are used for the finite element method (FEM) based simulations. The behavior of Chevron-shaped electrothermal actuator for the significant parametric variations is also observed. The proposed chevron-shaped electrothermal actuator achieve the output displacement of 57.602 μm along with 313.11 μN force at the low actuation voltage of 0.2 V.