Shahyaan Desai et al 2006 J. Micromech. Microeng. 16 1403 doi:10.1088/0960-1317/16/7/038
Shahyaan Desai1,2, Anil Netravali1 and Michael Thompson2
Show affiliationsWe report the development of novel carbon fiber-integrated MEMS (FIM) structures which can achieve extremely large deformations at high speeds with nearly fatigue-free behavior. FIM cantilevers fabricated using single 5 µm diameter carbon fibers demonstrated tip deflections exceeding ±90° at frequencies of 8–30 kHz, and sustained these deflections for over 1010 cycles. Using existing MEMS fabrication techniques, carbon fiber-based MEMS optical scanners were subsequently fabricated with demonstrated angular scans >160° at a 2.5 kHz resonance. These results establish the vastly superior mechanical behavior of carbon fiber-based MEMS, while maintaining fabrication processes compatible with existing micromachining techniques. These novel carbon FIM structures are shown to be successful in overcoming the fracture toughness and fatigue limitations of existing material technologies. Further development of this technology offers the potential to realize many moving MEMS structures previously considered unfeasible.
07.10.Cm Micromechanical devices and systems
81.40.Np Fatigue, corrosion fatigue, embrittlement, cracking, fracture, and failure
81.05.Uw Carbon, diamond, graphite
Soft matter, liquids and polymers
Instrumentation and measurement
Issue 7 (July 2006)
Received 21 January 2006, in final form 10 May 2006
Published 1 June 2006
Shahyaan Desai et al 2006 J. Micromech. Microeng. 16 1403
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