Abstract
We have developed a new micromachined nano tweezers integrated with thermal expansion micro actuators.The device structure was de.ned by etching of a 30µm-thick silicon-on-insulator wafer (SOI) using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching apparatus (ICP-RIE). To obtain the tip radius of less than 10nm and to align two probe tips, new process sequence was designed by combining wet anisotropical etching of silicon with the ICP-RIE. The gap between the two probe tips can be controlled by the integrated Si thermal expansion acutuators which are 500µm in length, 50µm in width, and 30µm in thickness. Since the displacement of the probe tip is mechanically magni.ed by 5 times as the thermal expansion displacement, 2µm displacement toward the opposing probe tip was observed when 0.4 W was applied to the thermal expansion actuator, which quantitatively agreed with theoretical prediction.
