Development of polymer MEMS process technology as an approach to a sustainable production system

Abstract

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) has been proposed as a material for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) to initiate the research on environmentally friendly micro-nano machining technology using polymer materials. A polymer MEMS process has been developed using hot embossing and precision machining. MEMS structures less than 2 μm were successfully embossed. The PMMA layer that remained after hot embossing was removed by a polishing process to release the movable parts. A PMMA electrostatic comb-drive microactuator was fabricated. Both finger width and gap between fingers were 5 μm, and thickness was larger than 70 μm. An operated displacement of 11 μm at a drive voltage of 100 V was obtained. It was 20 times larger than that of an identical silicon device. A torsional micro mirror device driving with vertical comb actuator was fabricated. The size of the mirror was 1×1 mm 2. The maximum tilt angle of 5.6 was obtained with driving voltage of 100 V and frequency up to 100 Hz. A chevron-shaped PMMA thermal actuator with a thickness of about 50 μm has been fabricated and tested successfully. The displacement was about 5 times larger than that of a Si counterpart at the same power consumption.