Smart-power integrated circuits to drive piezoelectric actuators for a cm3microrobot system

Abstract

Today, the use of robots for self acting tasks in applications ranging from biology and medicine to microsystems technology demand miniaturized dimensions and high-precision handling techniques. A lot of these tasks have been carried out by humans, but the manual capabilities are restricted to certain tolerances. Transport and manipulation of biological cells or assembly of micromechanical parts are the best suited applications for microrobots with sizes about cm 3 . Low cost and high-resolution actuators are critical performances which determine to choose piezoceramic materials as more suitable for micropositioning and micromanipulation units of a cm 3 microrobot. Smart Piezoactuator Unit (SPUs) as a basic element of a new generation of cm3 microrobots have been developped. The main characteristic of this proposed Smart Piezoactuator Unit system is the integration of driving circuitry with the piezoelectric actuators and to include a serial communication interface to minimize the number of power and command wires. Micropositioning and micromanipulation units are developed combining properly 6 Smart Piezoactuator Units each one. A BCD technology (Bipolar, CMOS, DMOS) is used to design high voltage smart power integrated circuit for these Smart Piezoactuator Units. Using this technology we integrate in the same chip 4 power drivers with its control and protection circuitry.