Design and Fabrication of Polymer Electrostatic Comb-Drive Actuators for Micro Conveyer Systems

Abstract

We propose the design, simulation and preliminary fabrication of Micro Conveyer Systems (MCS) based on polymer electrostatic comb-drive actuators using polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). This MCS consists of linear comb actuators, rotational comb actuators, micro containers, and a ratchet mechanism. Micro containers, used for carrying micro and nano samples such as protein, cells, are moved by comb-actuators through the ratchet mechanism. The silicon MCS was fabricated and checked to confirm characteristics and working principles. Each PMMA MCS, which has dimension of 1x1cm², will be fabricated by using hot embossing technique or X-ray lithography. A silicon mold has to be fabricated first by using silicon wafer and ICP-RIE process. Salient advantages of PMMA comb-drive actuators are low cost, high throughput and consuming less energy compared with the counterpart using silicon because PMMA has a lower Young's modulus.