Surface micromachined polycrystalline silicon thermal micro- actuators provide large deflections while requiring low drive voltages and occupying small device areas. The force provided by thermal actuators is not currently known. Therefore, force testers have been designed and fabricated. The force testers were used to measure the force of individual actuators over a range of design parameters including flexure length, hot arm width, arm separation,and actuator thickness. The force testers have also been connected to arrays of 2 to 20 actuators coupled together. Measurements of force tester deflection versus actuator drive power have been taken. The data shows that individual actuators are capable of generating greater than 4.8 micronewtons of force with less than 15 milliwatts of power. The test also show that coupling the actuators together successfully combines the force of individual actuators. These measurements allow the creation of a general set of design rules for efficient thermal actuators.
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