Simulation and Fabrication of Silicon Micro-Grippers Actuated by Piezoelectric Actuator

Abstract

The eight types of micro-grippers with silicon were simulated by ANSYS and fabricated by MEMS(Micro Electro Mechanical System) process. Each type of micro-grippers had a small difference in design shape such as beam width, gap between beams. In order to modify design shape, these micro-grippers were estimated and simulated in point of structure, actuation characteristics by changing design factors. Micro-grippers were composed of five parts which were piezoelectric actuation part, fixing part, rotation arms, the block and gripping jaws. The shape of gripping jaws was designed as the teeth of a saw to reduce adhesion force by decreasing the contact area. The 10.2 µm movement by piezoelectric actuator at 120 V generated the 142.8 µm gripping range of a micro-gripper in real measurement. In the case of simulation result, the gripping range of 162 µm was generated at the same condition. This gripping range was enough to handle small objects like micro-parts