A planar latch-up microactuator driven by thermoelastic force

摘要

We designed and fabricated a planar-type thermoelastic microactuator with a latch-up operation for optical switching. Latch-up actuation is prerequisite to implement an optical switch switch with low power ocnsumption and high reliability. The proposed microactuator consists of four cantilever-shaped thermal actuators, four elastic boundaries. The planar microactuator consists of phosphorous-doped 12 mum-thick polysilicon as a structural layer and LTO (Low Temperature Oxide) of 3 mum thickness as a sacrificial layer on polysilicon substrate. The experimental displacement of the microactuator was more than 21 mum at 10V input voltage for the prototpe of a thermoleastic microactuator. The frequency response for square wave input was measured up to 50Hz, which was the highest frequency we can detect usng optical microscope for now. The proposed microactuators have advantages of easy assembly with other optical component by way of fiber alignment in the substrate plane, and its fabrication process features simplicity while reatining batch-fabrication economy.