Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Fabrication of a polymer-based torsional vertical comb drive using a double-side partial exposure method

Junwei Chung and Wensyang Hsu

Show affiliations


A novel approach which uses a double-side partial exposure method to fabricate a polymer-based torsional vertical comb drive (VCD) with thick photoresist AZ9260® as the structural material is proposed in this paper. Front-side partial exposure defines the height of the fixed lower fingers, and back-side partial exposure creates the suspending space of the upper fingers, where the overlap and self-alignment between fingers can easily be achieved in this way. It does not need any sacrificial layer and etching process. A metal layer is finally deposited on the structural surface by a sputtering system for suitable electric conductivity to activate the polymer torsional VCD. The finite element method is used here to simulate the capacitance at different finger positions, and twelfth-order polynomial curve fitting is performed to obtain capacitance as a function of finger displacement. Then the rotation angle can be calculated analytically with the capacitance function. Also, the static deflection and dynamic response of polymer torsional VCDs are characterized experimentally, where the dimensions of the torsion plate are 300 µm wide and 360 µm long with movable fingers of length 100 µm; the torsion spring is 60 µm long and 4 µm wide. Both have a thickness of 31 µm, and the initial overlap is 11 µm in depth and 80 µm in length between the lower and upper fingers. By comparing the simulated and experimental results, the feasibility of the proposed fabrication method of polymer torsional VCDs is verified with a measured rotation angle of 2.31° under a driving voltage of 158.3 V.


PACS

85.85.+j Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) and devices

81.15.Cd Deposition by sputtering

Subjects

Electronics and devices

Surfaces, interfaces and thin films

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Dates

Issue 3 (March 2008)

Received 16 July 2007, in final form 2 January 2008

Published 24 January 2008



  1. Fabrication of a polymer-based torsional vertical comb drive using a double-side partial exposure method

    Junwei Chung and Wensyang Hsu 2008 J. Micromech. Microeng. 18 035014

  2. Quantum phases of trapped ions in an optical lattice

    R Schmied et al 2008 New J. Phys. 10 045017

  3. A Langmuir probe system for high power RF-driven negative ion sources on high potential

    P McNeely et al 2009 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 18 014011

  4. BIPM comparison BIPM.RI(II)-K1.Y-88 of activity measurements of the radionuclide 88Y and links for the 2000 regional comparison APMP.RI(II)-K2.Y-88

    G Ratel et al 2004 Metrologia 41 06010

  5. D-branes in N = 2 strings

    Dan Glück et al JHEP08(2003)055

  6. Efficient generation and properties of mesoscopic quantum superposition states in an attractive Bose–Einstein condensate threaded by a potential barrier

    Alexej I Streltsov et al 2009 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 42 091004

  7. Non-factorizable contributions to B→ππ decays

    Thorsten Feldmann and Tobias Hurth JHEP11(2004)037

  8. 40Ca(α,γ)44Ti and the production of 44Ti in supernovae

    C Vockenhuber et al 2008 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 35 014034

  9. Canonical Bäcklund transformation for the DST model under open boundary conditions

    Barun Khanra and A Ghose Choudhury 2009 Inverse Problems 25 085002

  10. Solving inhomogeneous inverse problems by topological derivative methods

    A Carpio and M-L Rapún 2008 Inverse Problems 24 045014

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.