Integrated Force Arrays for Specialized Robotics

摘要

The Integrated Force Array (IFA) is a powerful microelectromechanical actuator that can be thought of as artificial muscle. The work in this program focused on the verification of the performance of the IFA, the creation of longer IFAs, and initial studies on the formation of a monolithically fabricated polyimide frame around the IFA. Earlier fabricated IFAs were tested, and a new set of IFAs were fabricated and tested. Similar mechanical performance was measured compared to prior fabrication runs. Consistent performance was measured from test to test of a single IFA, from die to die on a wafer, and from wafer to wafer within the last fabrication run. IFAs were tested with lifetimes greater than 9.2x10 to the 8th power contractions and contraction rates of up to 24,000 contractions per second. Longer IFAs, 63 mm long, were successfully fabricated using overlapping exposures on an i-line stepper. Polyimide framed membranes were successfully fabricated verifying the robustness of the polyimide frame and the formation of gold feedthroughs.