CHAPTER 8

Micro sensors and Micro

Actuator in Mechatronics
Micro Sensors and Micro Actuator in Mechatronics

Micro Sensors and Micro Actuator in Mechatronics are generally

used in Mechatronics in a revolutionary subject Micro Electro
Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS)
Integration of micro
components like sensors,
integrated circuits and
actuators on a single chip
which allows the micro-
systems to sense and
control the environment.
Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) is a process
technology used to create tiny integrated devices or systems that
combine mechanical and electrical components.
They are fabricated using integrated circuit (IC) batch processing
techniques and can range in size from a few micrometers to
millimetres.
These devices (or systems) have the ability to sense, control and
actuate on the micro scale, and generate effects on the macro
scale.
It has the potential to revolutionize both industrial and
consumer products by combining silicon based microelectronics
with micromachining technology.
 INPUT OUTPUT

Microsensors detect changes in the system’s environment by

measuring mechanical, thermal, magnetic, chemical or
electromagnetic information or phenomena.
Microelectronics process this information and signal the
microactuators to react and create some form of changes to the
environment.
Microactuators are necessary to perform physical functions.
(a) A MEMS silicon motor together with a strand of human hair
(b) Legs of a spider mite standing on gears from a micro-engine
Applications of MEMS
Advantages of MEMS as a manufacturing technology
1) The interdisciplinary nature of MEMS technology and its
micromachining techniques, as well as its diversity of applications
has resulted in a vast range of devices and across previously
unrelated fields (for example biology and microelectronics).
2) MEMS with its batch fabrication techniques enables components
and devices to be manufactured with increased performance and
reliability, combined with advantages of reduced physical size,
volume, weight and cost.
3) MEMS provides the basis for the manufacture of products that
cannot be made by other methods. These factors make MEMS
potentially a wide spread technology than integrated circuit
microchips.
Advantages of MEMS (Contd)
4) Microcomponents make the system faster, more reliable,
cheaper, and capable of incorporating more complex functions.

However, there are many challenges and technological obstacles

associated with miniaturization that need to be addressed and
overcome before MEMS can realize its overwhelming potential.
Transducer
A device that transforms one form of signal or energy into another
form.
Term transducer is used to include both sensors and actuators.

Sensor
A device that measures information from a surrounding
environment and provides an electrical output signal in response to
the parameter it measured.
It is categorized in terms of the type of energy domains

MEMS devices generally overlap several domains or do not even

belong in any one category.
The different energy domains include:
• Mechanical - force, pressure, velocity, acceleration, position
• Thermal - temperature, entropy, heat, heat flow
• Chemical - concentration, composition, reaction rate
• Radiant - electromagnetic wave intensity, phase, wavelength,
polarization, reflectance, refractive index, transmittance
• Magnetic - field intensity, flux density, magnetic moment,
permeability
• Electrical - voltage, current, charge, resistance, capacitance

Actuator
A device that converts an electrical signal into an action.

It can create a force to manipulate itself, other mechanical devices,

or the surrounding environment to perform some useful function.
MICRO SENSORS
Micro sensors are classified based on different sensing principles.
1) Chemical sensors
2) Gas sensors
3) Optical sensors
4) Biosensors
5) Thermal sensors
6) Mechanical sensors
Mechanical micro sensors
a) Piezoresistive Sensor
Uses resistors whose resistance varies with the external pressing to
measure physical parameters such as pressure, force, acceleration,
flow rate, etc.
 Usually built on a silicon
diaphragm.
Deflection of the diaphragm leads
to the dimension change of the
resistors which results in the change
of resistance.
Semiconductor polymer foil is put on
an inter digital transducer’s (IDT)
electrodes.
Resistance is at the level of μohm.
When a force is applied, the
resistance decreases because of the
current that flows across the shunting
polymer foil.
Resistance is inversely proportional
to the pressure applied.
Piezoresistive Sensor --contd

Characteristics of Piezoresistive Sensor

Performance of the piezoresistive microsensors varies with

temperature and the pressure.
Sensitivity decreases as temperature increases.
Residual stress generated during the fabrication will also influence
the sensitivity.
Nonlinear deflection of the diaphragm occurs when the high
pressure-induced results in a deflection more than 10% of the
diaphragm thickness.
b) Capacitive Sensor
Uses the diaphragm deformation–induced capacitance change to measure
pressure, force, etc., into the electrical signals such as changes of oscillation
frequency, time, charge, and voltages.
One electrode on the flexible diaphragm and the other one on the substrate
forms the Capacitive Sensor.
Used for pressure, force, acceleration, flow rate, displacement, position
measurement, etc.
Capacitance change is not linear WRT
diaphragm deformation.
Small capacitance (1-3 pF) requires
measurement circuit to be integrated on
the chip.
It was found to have higher performance
than piezoresistive sensor in applications
requiring high sensitivity, low pressure
range, and high stability.
c) Piezoelectric Sensor

It is based on piezoelectric effect of piezoelectric materials.

Change in electrical charge is generated when a force is applied
across the face of a piezoelectric film.
For a piezoelectric disc of a given thickness of t, the voltage (V)
generated across the electrode disc (Figure) when subjected to a
stress (T) would be
V=gtT
g is the piezoelectric voltage
coefficient.
used in the sensors such as
pressure sensors, force
sensors, velocity and
accelerometers, hydrophone,
microphone, etc.
d) Resonant Sensor
Resonant sensing principle is based on the fact that the resonant
frequency of a resonator varies with the strain (stress) generated in
the resonator structure.
In the developed resonant microsensor, strain caused by pressure
on the diaphragm.
This leads to the natural frequency of a resonator varied.

By picking up the natural frequency variation of the resonator, the

physical information that caused the strain will be sensed.
Microactuators
a) Electrostatic Actuation
The electrostatic force is created by applying a voltage across two
plates that are separated by insulation layer with certain thickness.

where F is the electrostatic force, ε is the dielectric constant of the

insulation material, V is the applied voltage, and d is the electrode
distance between the two plates.
widely used in microactuator.
The well-known electrostatic microactuators include side-drive
silicon micromotor, wobble micromotor, comb-drive microactuator,
and out-of-plane diaphragm microactuators.
High actuation power is not required.
It can be easily integrated on a chip.
They are easily controlled, and consume less input power.

Used in positioning with low power requirements.

Diaphragm deflection for micropumps, resonators, light
modulators, etc.
Other actuation principles may be considered when high actuation
force or power is required.
 b) Magnetic Actuation
Magnetic microactuation is based on the Electro magnetic effect.
EM force is created between the electric coil and magnet.
A magnetic microactuator with permanent magnet and planar coil, in
which the vertical force (along z direction) acting on the magnet (or
coil) is calculated from:

μ is the magnetization of
permanent magnet and is
independent of the
magnetic induction field
B. One can see that the
large volume (dV) of
magnet is helpful to
obtain large actuating
force.
Magnetic actuation is used in the applications requiring high force or
torque.
But the materials and the processes need to be further developed.
How to bond or deposit permanent magnet onto the substrate and
fabricate electric coils need to be answered in the future.

c) Piezoelectric Actuation
Piezoelectric actuation is based on the inverse piezoelectric effect,
meaning that when the electric voltage is applied to an asymmetric
crystal lattice, the material will be deformed in a certain direction.
In the conventional piezoelectric actuation, various structures such as
cantilever, tube, stacked multilayer structure, Moonie structure, etc.
can be considered for different applications.
But in microscale, most of the structures used for piezoelectric
actuation are based on thin or thick piezoelectric film (bimorph
structures).
Unimorph cantilever structure is shown in Figure.
The tip deflection under a voltage of V is provided as follows in the
case of one-end-clamped cantilever:

where te and tp is the thickness of the elastic and piezo film thickness,
Ee and Ep is the Young’s modulus of elastic and piezo materials,
respectively. The d31 is the piezoelectric coefficient, V is the applied
voltage. The width and length of elastic and piezo layers are assumed
the same.
Piezoelectric actuation can be used to supply very high force.
Fabrication processes for piezo materials are to be further developed.
Deposition of thin and thick piezo films on silicon substrate is especially
a concern at the moment.

d) Thermal Actuation
Thermal actuation has been extensively used in microactuators.

Thermal actuation is based on the principles such as

mechanical thermal expansion,
thermal pneumatic,
bimetal effect,
shape memory alloy (SMA) effect, etc.
Microvalve with thermal actuation
The mechanical thermal
expansion leads to the
deflection of the beam or
diaphragm.
Heaters are embedded in the
valve diaphragm.
When the valve diaphragm is
heated, the beam expansion
results in the upward or
downward buckling of the valve
diaphragm, controlling open/off
of the microvalve.
High power consumption and
the low switching frequency are
the concern for the application
of this type of microactuators.
Thermal pneumatic actuation uses
the thermal expansion of gas or
liquid or the phase change between
liquid and gas to create the
actuation.
A sealed volume with gas or liquid
will expand under the heating.
This results in the diaphragm
buckling.
This type of microactuators have
been widely used in microvalves,
micropumps, etc.
Large force and displacement are
expected from thermal pneumatic
actuators, but actuating frequency is
very low.
Bimetallic actuation is created when two different materials are
layered and heated.
End deflection of the cantilever is calculated from as follows

where l is the length of the cantilever, b1, b2, t1, t2, E1, E2, α1,α2
represent the width and thickness of the two layers, the Young’s
modulus and thermal expansion coefficient respectively.
ΔT is the temperature variation causing the expansion.
By selecting materials with large difference in expansion coefficient
is required to obtain large deflection of the actuator.
Bimetallic microactuators can be easily integrated in a silicon
micromachined device.
Has fairly large force and displacement output.
But as other thermal actuation, low actuating frequency limits its
application in some cases.

Shape memory alloy (SMA) effect exists in some alloys in which a

reversible thermal–mechanical transformation of the atomic structure
of the metal takes place at certain temperatures.
At the low temperature, SMA keeps its desired deformed shape at
martensitic state. When SMA is heated to a threshold temperature,
the deformed martensite is transformed back to austenitic state.
SMA wires and thin film are the two structures used in SMA
microactuators.
Other Actuations
1) Electrostrictive Actuation,
2) Magnetostrictive Actuation,
3) Electrorheological Actuation,
4) Chemical Actuation, etc.,
The selection of actuation for micro systems should be made according
to the specific application requirement.
More new actuations based on smart materials are expected for MEMS.
THANK YOU