We start by presenting a short explanation of the micro actuator working principle. The main contribution of this paper is the characterization of the coefficient of stiction between two silicon nitride parts of a MEMS actuator. Having one flat contact surface while the other is composed of many relatively sharp circular bumps, has the advantage that the effective contact area is drastically re...

Micromanipulation is a key task to perform serial assembly of MEMS. The two-fingered microgrippers are usable but require specific studies to be able to work in the microworld. In this paper, we propose a new microgripping system where actuators and the end-effectors of the gripper are fabricated separately. End-effectors can thus be adapted to the manipulated micro-objects without new design a...

This work describes an on-chip integrated micro-actuator device for slack-free carbon nanotube (CNT) resonators, improving frequency tunability and Q factor and to study non-linear mode interaction. The device fabricated on SOI wafer with low thermal budget (<600 K) encompasses a restricted symmetrical out-of-plane vibration and a stiff in-plane electro-thermal actuator with a displacement of ~...

VITAL is an acronym for VIbro-TActiLe display concepts and devices. The new tactile displays presented are based on an integrated electromagnetic actuator arranged in a (8×8) pin matrix. A multilayer approach with a simple assembly procedure enables the development of a new generation of competitively priced tactile matrices with potentially high micro-actuator density. The independent amplitud...

Piezoelectric actuators are widely used in applications of micropositioning. In the most situations, there is a contact with an environment. Existence of external forces is a challenging problem in controlling mechanical system, especially in micro scales such as piezoelectric actuators. In such a situation, dual hysteresis nonlinearity effects could disrupt the actuator micropositioning accura...

Magnetic shape memory alloys (MSM alloys), a new kind of smart materials, have become a potential candidate in many engineering fields. MSMs have the advantage of bearing a huge strain, much larger than other materials. In addition, they also have fast response. These characteristics make MSM a good choice in micro engineering. However, MSMs display the obvious hysteresis phenomenon of nonlinea...

The aerodynamics of micro air vehicles (operating at the chord Reynolds number of 10 5 or below) is substantially influenced by the unsteadiness of the wind gust and the aircraft’s light weight. In this effort, we investigate the active flow control of the dielectric barrier discharge actuator for flows around the SD7003 airfoil, with the chord Reynolds number of 6×10 4 , to enhance our underst...

Microsystems using electrothermal bent-beam microactuators have been demonstrated for a variety of applications including optical attenuators, RF switches, and micro positioners for scanning microscopy, creating an important need for information on the longevity of these devices. This paper reports on the lifetime pulse testing results of polysilicon actuators. Devices have been operated up to ...

This paper provides an attempt to measure the pressure distribution actuated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) actuator. The efficacy of DBD plasmas driven by repetitive nanosecond (NS) pulses for pressure distribution is investigated experimentally in quiescent air. The NS pulse driven DBD plasma actuator (NS-DBD hereafter, transfers very little momentum to the neutral air, so the value of...

The aerodynamic parameters of ducted fan micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) are difficult and expensive to precisely measure and are, therefore, not available in most cases. Furthermore, the actuator dynamics with risks of potentially destabilizing the overall system are important but often neglected consideration factors in the control system design of ducted fan MAVs. This paper presents a near-hov...