Modelling and characterization of circular microplate electrostatic actuators for micropump applications

Abstract

In the last decades, an increasing interest is being directed towards micropumps, the main component of active microfluidic systems. A current research aim is to pursue compact dimensions and low power consumption; a viable alternative is to exploit MEMS manufacturing techniques. This work presents the modelling and the characterization of microplate electrostatic actuators for micropump applications. A one degree-of-freedom model is proposed to describe deformable plate electro-mechanics. The well-established ThELMA technique (STMicroelectronics) is adopted to manufacture the actuator prototypes. The effective plate flexural stiffness is extracted from pull-in tests on a series of plate actuators. The structural model is calibrated accordingly and successfully used to describe the electromechanical response of actuators where an annular electrode is introduced in order to obtain a higher actuator stroke.