This paper presents design and fabrication of a MEMS thermal actuator using SOI technology. The thermal actuators are used in, micro grippers, micro mirror and switching applications by applying voltage on different contact pads, causing beams with pseudo bimorph characteristics heated, thereby the microactuator can produce lateral motion in plane or out of plane. The narrow or hot arm heats up and expands more than the wide or cold arm deflecting the device toward the cold arm. Thermal actuators are more power efficient than electrostatic actuators. The present work carries the design, fabrication and characterization of the thermal actuator wherein numerical simulation are carried out in COMSOL multiphysics tool and fabrication was done at MUMPS facility MEMSCAP. The simulated results on displacement versus voltage are verified experimentally.
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