4542732

JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL. 17, NO.
4, AUGUST 2008 809

Polymeric Thermal Microactuator With Embedded
Silicon Skeleton: Part IDesign and Analysis
Gih-Keong Lau, Johannes F. L. Goosen, Fred van Keulen, Trinh Chu Duc, and Pasqualina M. Sarro, Fellow, IEEE
AbstractThis paper presents the modeling of a new design
of a polymeric thermal microactuator with an embedded mean-
der-shaped silicon skeleton. The design has a skeleton embedded
in a polymer block. The embedded skeleton improves heat trans-
fer to the polymer and reinforces it. In addition, the skeleton
laterally constrains the polymer to direct the volumetric thermal
expansion of the polymer in the actuation direction. The complex
geometry and multiple-material composition of the actuator make
its modeling very involved. In this paper, the main focus is on
the development of approximate electrothermal and thermoelastic
models to capture the essence of the actuator behavior. The ap-
proximate models are validated with a fully coupled multiphysics
nite element model and with experimental testing. The approxi-
mate models can be useful as an inexpensive tool for subsequent
design optimization. Evaluation, using the analytical and numer-
ical models, shows that the polymer actuator with the embedded
skeleton outperforms its counterpart without a skeleton, which is
in terms of heat transfer and, thus, response time, actuation stress,
and planarity. [2007-0193]
Index TermsArticial muscle, microelectromechanical sys-
tems (MEMS), multiphysics modeling, polymer actuators, thermal
actuators.
I. BACKGROUND
T
HERMAL actuation has advantages over other types of
microactuation. It features compactness, a high force, a
large displacement, and a low driving voltage [1][4]. It has
a wide range of applications for both out-of-plane and in-
plane motions. For example, out-of-plane thermal actuation is
useful for driving ciliary conveyors [1] and optical scanners [5],
Manuscript received July 31, 2007; revised April 9, 2008. First published
June 13, 2008; last published August 1, 2008 (projected). This work was
supported in part by the Delft Center of Mechatronics and Microsystems
(DCMM) and in part by the Dutch MicroNed program. Subject Editor
S. Spearing.
G.-K. Lau was with the Department of Precision and Microsystems Engi-
neering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands. He
is now with the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore 639798 (e-mail: mgklau@ntu.edu.sg).
J. F. L. Goosen and F. van Keulen are with the Department of Preci-
sion and Microsystems Engineering under the Faculty of Mechanical, Mar-
itimes, and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 Delft,
The Netherlands.
T. Chu Duc was with the Laboratory of Electronic Components, Technology
and Materials, Delft Institute of Microelectronics and Submicron Technology,
Delft University of Technology, 2600 GB Delft, The Netherlands. He is
now with the Electronics and Communications Faculty, College Technology,
Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
P. M. Sarro is with the Laboratory of Electronic Components, Technology,
and Materials, Delft Institute of Microelectronics and Submicron Technology,
Delft University of Technology, 2600 GB Delft, The Netherlands.
Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/JMEMS.2008.924842
whereas in-plane thermal actuation is applied to align bers [6],
to drive optical attenuators [7], and to drive microgrippers [8].
Besides driving functional microdevices, the in-plane linear
thermal actuation is also an indispensable element for an in situ
microscopic material tester with the integrated load sensing. For
example, arrays of V-shaped actuators are used for loading a
string of carbon nanotubes during tensile tests [9].
The performance of thermal actuation depends, to a large
extent, on the expansion materials [3]. Many thermal actuators
are made of silicon or metals. However, silicon and metals
have relatively low coefcients of thermal expansion (CTE)
but high thermal conductivities [10][12]. Consequently, they
are not effective in electromechanical conversion. Polymers are
known to have high CTE [3], [13]. There is increasing interest
in using themas expansion materials. For example, large out-of-
plane actuation is reported by using metallic-coated polymeric
bilayers [1]; in-plane actuation using metallic-coated U-shaped
polymers is reported in [14]. However, polymer materials are
electrical and thermal insulators. A thick polymeric layer re-
sponds slowly to heat changes and thus leads to slow response
times. In addition, a thick polymeric layer is susceptible to
internal stress gradients due to fabrication, thermal gradients
across the thickness during resistive heating, or CTE mis-
matches between the polymeric and metallic heating layers.
These subject the thick polymer layer to unintended out-of-
plane bending. Moreover, polymeric thermal actuators have low
stiffness when compared with their silicon or metallic coun-
terparts. Therefore, the existing designs of polymeric thermal
actuators are not ideal for in-plane actuation.
II. ACTUATOR DESIGN
A novel design of a polymeric thermal microactuator is
proposed to address the issues mentioned earlier. The actuator
design was briey described in a letter [15], and its working
principle has been disclosed in a Dutch patent application [16].
Its conceptual layout is shown in Fig. 1. In this paper, we will
analyze the design in more detail (see Fig. 1).
The design embeds a silicon skeleton in a polymer block of
SU-8. The skeleton is meandered in shape, having many folds
along the longitudinal (y) axis and being symmetric about the
central axis. Each fold of the meandered skeleton consists of
two platelike segments (parallel to the x-axis) and a single
horseshoe bend that connects the two segments. The trenches
of the skeleton (i.e., the spacing between the segments) are
lled with the polymer, which makes contact with the vertical
skeleton sidewalls (along the z axis). The polymer is thermally
expandable; however, it is thermally and electrically insulating.
1057-7157/$25.00 2008 IEEE
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810 JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL. 17, NO. 4, AUGUST 2008
Fig. 1. Illustration of a thermal actuator design, consisting of a polymeric
expander (SU-8 epoxy), a meander-shaped skeleton (Si), and a thin-lm heater
(Al); the actuator is suspended in an air cavity with its root anchored to a silicon
substrate.
An aluminum lm is deposited on top of the skeleton to enable
resistive heating.
The actuator is anchored to the substrate at its root. When
the aluminum heater is electrically activated, heat is generated
and transferred through the skeleton to the polymer lling. The
heated polymeric lling expands and widens the spacing in each
fold of the meandering microstructure [15]. This causes the tip
of the actuator to longitudinally move forward.
The three materials are selected based on the thermophysical
properties desired for their respective roles and because they
can be readily microstructured and combined. The embedded
skeleton improves the performance of the polymer actuator in
several aspects. First, the silicon skeleton with a high thermal
conductivity improves the heat transfer to the polymer with a
low thermal conductivity. Second, the skeleton reinforces the
polymer expander and directs the volumetric expansion of the
polymer in the actuation direction [17], [18].
III. MOTIVATION AND SCOPE
The present actuator design consists of multiple materials.
It has an intricate and complex geometry. It shows complex
multiphysics behavior in response to multiple stimuli (namely,
electrical, mechanical, and thermal). Therefore, its numerical
modeling is involved. However, a simple analytical modeling is
very much needed to help in designing the actuator. The ana-
lytical model could potentially reveal the relationships between
design parameters and the actuator performance.
In the subsequent section, we will develop approximate
analytical models for the actuator at steady state based on
geometrical simplication and property averaging. We divide
the coupled electrothermalmechanical problem into two ap-
proximately decoupled problems, namely, an electrothermal
and a thermoelastic problem. First, the electrothermal problem
is solved by using a 1-D line model constructed by unfolding
the meandered heat conduction path. Second, the thermoelastic
behavior of the actuator will be approximated by using the
constrained thermal expansion of a polymeric layer that is
perfectly bonded between two rigid interfaces.
Subsequently, the approximate analytical models will be val-
idated with nite-element modeling (FEM) and experimental
Fig. 2. One-dimensional electrothermal line model obtained by straightening
the meandering heat conducting path and applying appropriate boundary con-
ditions (see Tables I and II for symbol denition).
characterization. In addition, we will evaluate the performance
of the present polymeric actuator design and show the advan-
tages of embedding the skeleton in the design in comparison
with a design without skeleton. In addition, the effect of the
aspect ratio of a perfectly bonded polymeric layer on the
effective CTE will be studied.
IV. ELECTROTHERMAL ANALYSIS
In the present actuator design, the skeleton material typi-
cally possesses a high thermal conductivity (k), for example,
silicon with k = 148 W/(mK) [10]. However, the polymer ex-
pander has a low thermal conductivity, for example, SU-8 with
k = 0.2 W/(mK) [13]. The skeleton allows for a relatively
fast heat transfer to the polymer expander lled in the narrow
trenches between the skeleton. Hence, it becomes a primary
path for heat conduction. In addition, heat conduction across
its height is faster than that along its length because of a larger
length. Consequently, the thermal characteristics of the actuator
design are mainly determined by the length. These observations
enable us to develop a simplied electrothermal model for the
actuator. The model is presented in the following.
A. One-Dimensional Line Model
A 1-D line model is formulated to capture the thermal
behavior of the actuator by unfolding the meandering path of
heat conduction into a straight line. The model is shown in
Figs. 2 and 3, and the symbols used in the gures are dened in
Tables I and II. The 1-D line model consists of a silicon plate,
polymer cladding on two sides, and a thin-lmaluminum heater
on top of the plate. The temperature distribution is nonuniform
along the line, as a result of heat transfer. The line model is
uniformly imposed, with an equivalent heat convection.
The line model is based on the assumption that the heat con-
duction is predominantly along the skeleton and the heat con-
duction across the polymeric lling in between two neighboring
segments of the meandered skeleton can be ignored. In addition,
the polymeric lling is assumed to have perfect thermal contact
with the silicon skeleton and an instantaneous temperature
change in response to the temperature of the adjacent skeleton
segment. The equivalent heat convection is calculated on the
basis of the total convection around the exposed surfaces of the
LAU et al.: POLYMERIC THERMAL MICROACTUATOR WITH EMBEDDED SILICON SKELETON I 811
Fig. 3. Representative segment of the line model. (a) Material components.
(b) Electric current ow across the cross section. (c) Resistive heat generation
and sectional heat transfer. (d) Heat transfer along the composite conduction
paths (see Tables I and II for symbol denitions).
TABLE I
SYMBOL DEFINITION FOR GEOMETRY IN FIGS. 24
actuator but not the internal surfaces, which become virtually
exposed due to the virtual unfolding.
Validity of the line model depends, to a large extent, on the
heat transfer across the polymer lling between the neighboring
segments of the embedded skeleton. The model is basically
valid for the design with a symmetric skeleton where there is
no signicant temperature difference between the neighboring
segments, for example, the neighboring segments across a fold
or the neighboring folds across the centerline of symmetry.
However, the model does not hold for a design with an asym-
metric skeleton. For example, in a bending actuator with an
embedded asymmetric skeleton, the heat transfer takes place
across the polymeric lling between a straight and a meandered
segment of the asymmetric skeleton [18]. This results in an
asymmetric temperature prole, which cannot be predicted by
the present line model.
TABLE II
SYMBOL DEFINITION FOR VARIABLES IN FIGS. 24
Fig. 4. Relationship of an effective perimeter P for the line model to the real
perimeter P
0
for the entire actuator (see Tables I and II for symbol denition).
B. Governing Equation
Steady-state thermal equilibrium across an innitesimal seg-
ment (see Fig. 3) leads to a nonlinear ordinary differential
equation (ODE) of temperature (T)
k(T)A
d
2
T
dx
2
dx h(T)P(T T
)dx +I
2
1
dR
1
(T)
dx
dx = 0
(1)
in which the composite geometry and properties for the line
model are subsequently dened. The line composite has a
sectional area, which is the sum of its components; thus,
A = A
1
+A
2
+A
3
. With reference to Fig. 4, an equivalent
perimeter P is related to the actuator perimeter P
0
such that
P = (P
0
L
0
+A
0
)/L. The thermophysical properties of the
composite are temperature dependent, and they can be related to
the component properties. For example, the composite thermal
conductivity is k = (k
1
A
1
+k
2
A
2
+k
3
A
3
)A
1
. The heater
resistance R
1
is related to the heater resistivity
0
at the ini-
tial temperature T
0
such that dR
1
/dx =
0
[1 +(T T
0
)]/A,
where is the temperature coefcient of resistivity (TCR) [19].
Electric current owing through the heater under a driving
voltage V is I
1
= A
1
V/(
1
L). The heat transfer coefcient
through air (h) is dened in a subsequent section. For a
complete derivation of the composite properties, the readers are
referred to [20].
Typically, the initial temperature is equal to room temper-
ature such that T
0
= T
. The substitution of the effective

perimeter, electric current, and resistance into (1) leads to a
simple form of ODE
d
2
T
dx
2
m
2
(T T
0
) +n
2
= 0 (2)
in which
m
2
=
h(T)P
k(T)A
n
2
=
1
k
1
(T)
_
A
1
A
__
V
L
_
2
.
Boundary conditions are imposed such that the temperatures
at the two ends, i.e., at x = 0 and x = L, are equal to T
0
.
The coefcients m
2
and n
2
are temperature dependent.
Consequently, the ODE is nonlinear and has no simple and
exact solution. The nonlinear ODE can be solved as a boundary
value problem using numerical methods. For example, it can
be solved by using the Simpson method [21] (i.e., the bvp4c
subroutine of MATLAB by recasting the ODE into a state-
space form).
C. Solution for Linearized Equation
As already mentioned, the exact solution to the nonlinear
governing equation is not readily available [22]. However, a
closed-form solution is desired to provide insight into the inu-
ence of design parameters on the electrothermal response. For
this reason, the nonlinear governing equation is linearized and
solved by using several assumptions. First, the change in the
electric resistance is assumed to be small so that its inverse can
be approximated by using a linear approximation. Second, the
heat convection coefcient of air is assumed to be independent
of temperature and equal to the value at the initial temperature,
i.e., h = h
0
. Finally, the thermal conductivity of the composite
is assumed to be independent of temperature and equal to the
value at the initial temperature, i.e., k = k
0
. Linearizing (2)
yields
d
2
dx
2
m
2
0
= 0 (3)
with
m
2
0
=
h
0
P
k
0
A
+n
2
0
n
2
0
=
1
k
0
0
_
A
1
A
__
V
L
_
2
=
n
2
0
m
2
0
=(T T
0
).
Imposing the boundary conditions mentioned after (2), the
solution to the linear ODE becomes
(x) =
_
cosh m
0
L 1
sinh m
0
L
_
sinh m
0
x cosh m
0
x. (4)
The solution exhibits a maximum
(x
) =
_
cosh m
0
L 1
sinh m
0
L
_
sinh
m
0
L
2
cosh
m
0
L
2
(5)
for
x
=
1
m
0
tanh
1
_
cosh m
0
L 1
sinh m
0
L
_
L
2
. (6)
In turn, the maximum temperature T
max
becomes
T
max
= T
0
+ +(x
)
whereas the average temperature T
avg
along the heater with
length L is
T
avg
= T
0
+ +

Lm
0
_
(cosh m
0
L 1)
2
sinh m
0
L
sinh m
0
L
_
.
(7)
Thus, the electric resistance for the entire aluminum thin-lm
heater can be estimated with
R =

0
L
A
1
[1 +(T
avg
T
0
)] . (8)
This equation relates the average temperature rise to the change
in the resistance, which can be experimentally measured.
V. THERMOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS
In the present design conguration, the polymeric expander
is conned in the meandered skeleton. The skeletons sidewalls
restrain the polymer expansion laterally, but allowit more freely
in a transverse direction. Meanwhile, horseshoe bends of the
skeleton suppress the transverse deformation but to a smaller
extent at a large skeleton width. In the case of a large width, the
polymer actuator with the meander-shaped skeleton resembles
a stack of skeleton and polymeric layers (see Fig. 5). Therefore,
the former can be modeled by the later in approximating the tip
displacement. The geometry similarity allows for a simplied
analysis using a polymeric layer that is perfectly bonded be-
tween two rigid interfaces.
A. Polymeric Layer That Is Perfectly Bonded Between
Rigid Interfaces
Consider a polymeric layer that is perfectly bonded between
two rigid interfaces [see Figs. 5 and 6(a)]. It has a width w
and a thickness t, with an aspect ratio r = w/t. No lateral
Fig. 5. Thermoelastic models of polymeric composite with embedded silicon
microstructures. (a) Large-width meandering silicon microstructure, resem-
bling an array of parallel silicon plates. (b) Constrained thermal expansion of
the polymeric layer sandwiched between the silicon layers.
Fig. 6. Deformed shapes of nite element meshes (illustrative and not in exact
dimensions and mesh division). (a) Model #1. (b) Model #2. (c) Model #3
(see Table III for detailed description).
displacement is allowed at the bonded interfaces. However,
there is lateral bulging at the midplane when the bonded layer
thermally expands.
The assumption of rigid interfaces is based on the fact that
silicon plates, at the same thickness as the SU-8 lling, are
approximately 40 times stiffer and expands 60 times less than
the SU-8 lling. On the other hand, the polymeric layer is
assumed to have an innite height (i.e., the plane-strain condi-
tion) and linear isotropic elastic properties. It is assumed to un-
dergo small thermoelastic strains. Furthermore, two kinematic
assumptions are made for the bonded polymeric layer, namely,
that lateral planes remain plane and that the transverse lines
become parabolic. These kinematic assumptions are similar
with those imposed on a compressed elastic layer that is under
transverse pressure [23], [24].
The detailed derivation of the approximate solution is beyond
the scope of this paper and will be elaborated elsewhere [25].
Here, only the solution to the 2-D thermoelastic model is
presented. An apparent CTE (
p
) for the bonded polymeric
layer in the transverse direction (, i.e., along the y-axis) is
p
=
_
1 +
1
_
f(r)
p
(9)
with
f(r) =
1
_

1
_
tanh(r)
r
1
_

1
_
2 tanh(r)
r
r =
w
t
3
2
_
1 2
1
_
where and
p
are the Poissons ratio and linear CTE of the
intrinsic polymer, respectively.
The magnitude of the lateral bulging depends on the aspect
ratio (r). The lateral bulging is large at a small aspect ratio, but
it is suppressed at a large aspect ratio. This means that, for a
fully bonded layer at a large (r), lateral constraint dominates
and contributes to a higher transverse thermal expansion.
In the limiting case of innite width, the function f(r) ap-
proaches one, and the apparent transverse CTE becomes greater
than the free linear thermal expansion (i.e.,
p
>
p
). This
limiting solution obtained by the 2-D model agrees with that
obtained by a biaxial model [17]. The enhanced transverse CTE
conrms that the connement effect is benecial to thermal
actuation, which is contrary to the strain suppression in the
conned dielectric elastomer [26].
B. Effective Thermal Expansion for a Composite Stack
For a stack of bonded silicon and polymer layers (see Fig. 5),
an effective transverse CTE (
c
) reads according to the law of
mixtures
c
=
p
+ (1 )
s
(10)
in which is the volume fraction of polymer and the latter is
related to geometry parameters such that = t/(t +t
0
). On the
other hand,
s
is the CTE of the silicon layer.
The polymeric component in the stack contributes most to
the apparent thermal expansion, whereas the silicon skeleton
component contributes very little. Therefore, using (9), the
effective CTE is further reduced to
p
=
_
1 +
1
_
f(r)
p
. (11)
This equation shows that the composite CTE depends on the
aspect ratio and volume fraction of the bonded polymeric layer.
When subjected to a temperature rise to T
avg
, the stack of
length L
0
expands longitudinally at a tip displacement L
0
of
L
0
L
0
(T
avg
T
0
)
c
. (12)
This solution for a stack provides a simple approximation to
the tip displacement for the polymeric actuator with embedded
meandered skeleton.
VI. FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS
The nite-element software ANSYS is used to simulate
the performance of the proposed actuator design and to ver-
ify the theoretical models. Two sets of simulation are con-
ducted, namely, the thermoelastic response under a uniform
TABLE III
DETAILS OF FEM
TABLE IV
GEOMETRY PARAMETERS FOR MODELS #2 AND #3
temperature rise and the electrothermalmechanical response
under steady-state resistive heating. The nite element models
for thermalelastic simulation consist of structural elements,
which are either the 2-D plane-strain elements (PLANE42) or
the 3-D element (SOLID45). The models for electrothermal
mechanical simulation consists of the 3-D coupled-eld ele-
ments (SOLID5).
A. Geometries
Three geometries are considered (see Fig. 6). The boundary
and loading conditions imposed on the three models are sum-
marized in Table III. The geometry parameters for the models
are listed in Table IV.
The rst geometry model (#1) is a 2-D polymeric layer that
is perfectly bonded between two rigid interfaces [see Fig. 6(a)].
This model has the same geometry and boundary conditions
as those used to derive (11). It serves to predict the apparent
transverse CTE of the bonded layer under uniform heating. The
second geometry model (#2) is a 3-D polymer actuator design
embedded with a symmetrically meandered silicon skeleton
and an aluminum thin-lm heater [see Fig. 6(b)]. It could
predict the responses of the present actuator design under both
uniform and resistive heating. The third geometry model (#3)
is a 3-D polymeric block with an aluminum thin-lm heater on
the top [see Fig. 6(c)]. It does not have the embedded silicon
TABLE V
MATERIAL PROPERTIES OF SOLIDS AT 300 K
TABLE VI
TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF SOLIDS [12]
skeleton but serves as a reference design for comparison with
Model #2.
B. Material Properties
The success in the modeling depends, to a large extent, on
the accurate data of material properties. This is particularly
true for the electrothermal modeling, considering that material
properties change with temperature. For example, electric resis-
tivity, the thermal conduction of solids, and thermal convection
through air are all temperature dependent. The material prop-
erties used in the present models are summarized in Table V.
They are based on the data available in the literature [10][13].
As shown in Table VI [12], the thermal conductivity of sili-
con decreases at a diminishing rate with temperature, whereas
that of aluminum slightly changes over the operating tem-
perature range. The thermal conductivity of SU-8 epoxy is
not directly available. It is therefore taken to be identical to
that reported for other types of epoxies [27][29]. According
to Cahill and Pohl [27], the thermal conductivity for epoxy
increases as a function of absolute temperature at a decreasing
TABLE VII
TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT PROPERTIES OF AIR [33]
rate; it approaches to a constant at temperatures that are above
300 K. For example, the reported thermal conductivities for
EPON 862 [28] and Araldite epoxy resin [29] are around
0.2 W/(mK) at temperatures that are equal or above 300 K.
The thermophysical properties of air are also important in
the modeling. They are strongly dependent on temperature
(see Table VII). They affect the heat dissipation through air.
At the operating temperature range, the contribution of heat
radiation is insignicant as compared with heat conduction
and convection [19]. The heat conduction through air (h
cond
)
is given as h
cond
= k
air
/g
z
, where k
air
denotes the thermal
conductivity of air and g
z
denotes the air gap beneath the
actuator [30]. On the other hand, the heat convection through
air (h
conv
) depends on various thermophysical properties and
an effective diameter. It can be estimated by using a dimen-
sionless correlation formula [31] for a horizontal cylinder with
diameter D
Nu
D
=
_
0.60 +
0.387Ra
1/6
D
[1 + (0.059/ Pr)
9/16
]
8/27
_
2
(13)
where Ra
D
10
12
. The dimensionless variables are dened
as follows [32]. The Rayleigh number is Ra
D
= g(T
s
)D
3
/(), the Nusselt number is Nu
D
= h
conv
D/k
air
,
and the Prandtl number is Pr = /. The other symbols in
the aforementioned equations are dened in Table VII [33].
The effective diameter D used in the estimation is derived
from the cross-sectional area A
0
and perimeter P
0
of the
actuator block (see Fig. 3), such that D = 4A
0
/P
0
.
In short, the total heat transfer coefcient h through air is the
sum of convective and conduction terms, as follows:
h = h
cond
+h
conv
. (14)
Other thermoelastic properties are assumed to be temperature
independent. These properties include the Youngs modulus,
Poissons ratio, and thermal expansion coefcients. The ther-
moelastic properties of silicon and aluminum at a constant tem-
perature are obtained from the literature [11]. The thermoelastic
properties of SU-8 epoxy are reported with a large variation in
the literature, as they depend on processing parameters, testing
Fig. 7. Scanning electron micrograph of a sample device with a symmetrically
meandered silicon skeleton (60 m wide).
methods, and sample geometry [13]. For example, a stretched
polymeric thin lm manifests a CTE different from that for a
conned sample in a close cylinder; even for the same thin-
lm sample, the in-plane CTE is different from the out-of-
plane CTE [13]. In this context, SU-8 epoxy is lled between
silicon plates. Therefore, its linear CTE is taken as one third
of the volumetric thermal expansion, which is obtained for the
conned sample.
VII. CHARACTERIZATION
To validate the theoretical and numerical modeling, the
experimental characterization of sample devices is performed.
The sample devices (see Fig. 7) are fabricated by using bulk sil-
icon micromachining and SU-8 photoresist casting. The details
of the fabrication are reported in [34] and [35]. The samples
are tested under either external uniform or integrated resistive
heating. The test under uniform heating serves to show the
connement effect of varying bond widths on the apparent
CTE. The samples tested have a bond width ranging from
60 to 120 m. On the other hand, the test with resistive heating
serves to show the device performance under normal operating
condition.
The experiments with external heating are carried out by
using a temperature controllable hotplate and a microscope with
Fig. 8. Apparent transverse CTE as functions of the aspect ratio for a stack of
polymeric and silicon layers (Model #1), a polymeric actuator with a meandered
silicon skeleton (Model #2), and devices under test with the same design as
Model #2.
a charge-coupled device camera. The displacement induced by
a known temperature rise is obtained by comparing the captured
image at the elevated temperature with that at the room temper-
ature. On the other hand, the experiments with resistive heating
are carried out on a probe station. A voltage difference across
the heater causes a current and, consequently, a temperature
rise and thermal expansion. The induced current is measured
by using an Agilent parameter analyzer, whereas the induced
displacement is obtained by comparing the captured images
before and after electrical activation. The responses under
resistive heating are more complicated because they involve
an unknown temperature and are inuenced by temperature-
dependent properties.
VIII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results and discussions are divided into four parts.
The rst part discusses the apparent transverse CTEs for the
actuators that are under uniform heating. The second part
discusses the temperature distribution of the present actuator
design that is under resistive heating. The third part compares
the present actuator design with the other design without the
embedded skeleton. The fourth part validates the simulation
with experimental testing over a range of driving voltages.
A. Uniform Heating
Apparent CTEs for the composites are dened as the tip
thermal expansion divided by the composite length and the tem-
perature rise. They can be obtained from theoretical and numer-
ical models and from experimental measurement under uniform
heating. For the rst model (#1), which is a perfectly bonded
SU-8 layer, the polymeric thermal expansion is substituted into
(11) to estimate a CTE for the composite (50%50% SU-8/Si).
For the second model (#2), which is a polymeric actuator with
embedded skeleton, the apparent composite CTE is estimated
from the tip displacement. In the experimental measurement,
the apparent CTE is calculated from the measured longitudinal
dimensional change L
0
.
Fig. 8 shows that the apparent CTEs, which are obtained
from various models and experiments, are the functions of
the aspect ratio. All results increase at a decreasing rate with
the aspect ratio. They converge to respective levels at a large
aspect ratio. However, the 2-D Model #1 and (11) predict a
higher apparent CTE than the 3-D Model #2 because Model #1
assumes a stack of parallel silicon plates but ignores the horse-
shoe bends in Model #2. Model #2 predicts the same trend
of the apparent CTE as the measurement but shows some
discrepancy.
B. Resistive Heating
Electrothermomechanical behaviors under resistive heating
are simulated by using theoretical (ODE) and numerical (FEM)
methods. Two actuator models are considered, namely, the
actuator with embedded skeleton (Model #2) and the actuator
without skeleton (Model #3). Both models has the same width
of 60 m (see Figs. 6(c) and 7). They are resistively heated
with an integrated thin-lm aluminum heater. In the following
discussion, simulation results for Model #2 are rst presented
before those for Model #3.
For Model #2, the temperature proles along a meandering
path are simulated at different driving voltages (see Fig. 9). The
results showthat the top temperature proles on the heating lm
are almost identical to those on the bottom of the silicon skele-
ton. The temperature proles appear to be symmetric along
the path, with the two ends xed at the room temperature and
the center reaching a peak temperature. The peak temperature
increases with the driving voltage. The nonlinear ODE provides
temperature prediction that is as good as the nonlinear FEM.
However, the linear ODE substantially deviates from the non-
linear simulation at a higher voltage (> 1 V). The discrepancy
using the linear ODE is attributed to the linear assumption that
neglects the change in thermophysical properties with respect
to the temperature rise.
Fig. 10 shows the displacement contours simulated at 1 V
for Model #2. It is found that the longitudinal displacement
(u
y
) increases along the length and reaches a maximum at the
tip. The lateral expansion (u
x
) is largely suppressed but with
some lateral bulging. To a large extent, the actuation remains
an in-plane one, as observed from the vertical displacement
contour (u
z
). The silicon skeleton has an almost completely in-
plane motion when electrothermally activated. There are small
vertical displacements on the free edges of the polymer lling
and at the front tip of the encapsulant, which is only restrained
from one side.
Fig. 11 shows the temperature and voltage contours induced
at 1 V for Model #2 using nite-element methods. The temper-
ature distribution is symmetric with respect to the longitudinal
centerline. The tip of the actuator reaches a maximum tem-
perature, whereas the root remains at room temperature. The
temperature contour on the top heating lm is identical to that
on the bottomsurface of the embedded skeleton. The contour on
the side shows that the temperature is almost uniform across the
thickness but is varied along the length. The simulated voltage
eld on the aluminum heater is also shown in Fig. 11 to be
symmetric with respect to the longitudinal centerline.
For comparison, Model #3 is also simulated. Finite-element
simulation shows that the surface heating of the polymeric
block leads to a substantial temperature gradient across the
thickness. The top heater is hotter than the bottom surface of the
insulating polymeric block, which is 50 m thick. Temperature
Fig. 9. Simulated temperature distributions along a meandering path of a polymeric composite actuator with the embedded skeleton (Model #2), including both
theoretical and FEM results.
Fig. 10. Simulated displacement elds of a polymeric composite actuator with the embedded skeleton (Model #2) when resistively activated at 1 V. (a) Lateral
displacement (u
x
). (b) Longitudinal (or transverse) displacement (u
y
). (c) Vertical displacement (u
z
).
contour on the top differs from that at the bottom (see Fig. 12).
Due to this gradient, the polymer block under surface heating is
subjected to a vertical motion (e.g., 1.5 m at 1 V) besides the
intended longitudinal motion (see Fig. 13).
Fig. 14 shows the simulated temperature proles induced
at 1 V along meandering heat conduction paths in Model #3.
Finite-element simulation predicts that the temperature on the
top heater is higher than that at the bottom of the polymeric
block. Both the top and bottom temperature proles appear like
two camel humps, which have two identical peaks off the
center and a saddle at the center. The central saddle suggests
that heat dissipation at the end tip of the polymer block is
faster than at the inside. In contrast, the nonlinear ODE predicts
a symmetric temperature prole of comparable magnitude as
the nite element method. However, the ODE method predicts
neither the temperature difference between the top and bottom
nor the saddle at the center.
C. Design Comparison
The polymeric actuator with embedded skeleton (Model #2)
is compared with the polymer block without skeleton
Fig. 11. (Top, side, and bottom views) Simulated temperature and voltage elds induced to a polymeric composite actuator with the embedded skeleton
(Model #2) when resistively activated at 1 V.
Fig. 12. (Top, side, and bottom views) Simulated temperature elds induced to a polymeric block (Model #3) when resistively activated at 1 V.
(Model #3). Both models have almost the same geometry (refer
to their dimension in Table IV); however, they differ in actuator
performances, the comparison of which is listed in Table VIII.
The silicon skeleton embedded in Model #2 improves the
heat transfer and reinforces the polymer expander. Therefore,
Model #2 exhibits 25 times higher stiffness in the direction of
actuation (i.e., along the y-axis) and 152 times higher thermal
conductivity [i.e., at 76 W/(mK)] than Model #3. However,
Model #2 contains 50% less thermally expandable polymer and
undergoes less temperature rise than Model #3 when resistively
heated at the same voltage. Consequently, the former delivers
50% less thermal expansion at 1 V than the latter, (i.e., 5 m
of the former at 1 V in comparison with 11 m of the latter).
At the same temperature rise, the former could deliver thermal
expansion by as much as 77% as the latter. This strain enhance-
ment is brought by the connement effect of the skeleton on
polymer.
Furthermore, Model #2 exhibits very little out-of-plane mo-
tion, which is coupled with the intended in-plane motion. The
ratio of out-of-plane to in-plane motion is approximately 1%for
this design under resistive heating, and it becomes 4% under
uniform heating. On the other hand, the motion coupling is
very serious for Model #3. It is 11% under resistive heating
and becomes excessively high at 94% under uniform heating.
The large out-of-plane bending unintentionally happens under
the uniform heating because Model #3 is effectively a bilayer
consisting of a thin Al lm on top and a thick SU-8 layer
beneath.
Based on the comparison mentioned earlier, it is concluded
that the design with the embedded silicon microstructure can
achieve highly in-plane actuation with a large stiffness and an
adequate displacement.
D. Experimental Validation
To validate the theoretical and numerical models under resis-
tive heating, experiment measurements are performed by using
a sample device (60 m wide and 530 m long, see Fig. 7). The
primary measured data include the electric current, resistance
change, and tip displacement. An average temperature rise can
be estimated by using the measured resistance change and the
TCR. The measured data are compared with the simulation
Fig. 13. Simulated displacement elds of a polymeric block (Model #3) when resistively activated at 1 V. (a) Lateral displacement (u
x
). (b) Longitudinal
(or transverse) displacement (u
y
). (c) Vertical displacement (u
z
).
Fig. 14. Simulated temperature distribution along the meandering paths on
the top and bottom of a polymeric block (Model #3) when resistively heated at
1 V, including both theoretical and FEM predictions.
results over a voltage range from 0 to 2 V. It is found that the
simulation results agree well with the measurement data.
For example, Fig. 15(a) shows that the simulated electric
resistance increases with the voltage, which is similar to the
measured resistance. The discrepancy between the simulated
and measured resistance is small but grows with the driving
voltages. In particular, the linear ODE shows growing devi-
ations at a voltage that is greater than 1 V. This is because
the assumptions of temperature-independent properties for the
linear ODE do not hold at the elevated temperature. Fig. 15(b)
shows that the predicted average temperature increases with
TABLE VIII
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON BASED ON FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS
the driving voltage. The trend of the average temperature is
similar to that for the resistance. Maximum temperature is not
available in the measurement. However, the simulations predict
Fig. 15. Electrothermalmechanical responses as functions of driving voltage for the activated 60-m-wide polymeric actuators with embedded silicon
microstructures [see Fig. 6(a)]. (a) Electric resistance. (b) Average temperature. (c) Simulated maximum temperature. (d) Tip displacement.
[see Fig. 15(c)] that the maximum temperature increases with
the driving voltage.
Fig. 15(d) shows that both the measured and simulated tip
displacements increase with the driving voltage. The FEM
results agree well with the measurement. However, the ap-
proximation using (12) overestimates the tip displacement. The
comparison between Fig. 15(b) and (d) shows that the FEM
simulation predicts a matched tip stroke as the measurement
but a smaller average temperature at the voltage range > 1 V.
Therefore, this correlation suggests that the CTE values used
for the simulation may be higher than the actual values,
particularly that for SU-8. Therefore, material characteriza-
tion is necessary to provide relevant thermophysical data for
simulation.
IX. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, two decoupled approximate models have been
successfully developed to simulate electrothermalmechanical
behavior for a polymeric actuator with a meander-shaped
silicon skeleton. The approximate models include a 1-D elec-
trothermal model and a thermoelastic model. These approx-
imate models capture the essence of the actuator behavior
and are compared with a fully coupled nite element model
and experimental characterization. The approximate models
reveal the relationships between the actuator performance and
design parameters. They can be used as inexpensive tools for
design optimization, which will be reported in a companion
paper [36].
The approximate electrothermal model converts a meander-
shaped heat conduction path into a straight one. It assumes that
the heat transfer is mainly along the skeleton but not across the
polymer lling. The line model assumes a uniform equivalent
convective ux along the path. The model essentially captures
the electrothermal response for the design with the symmetric
skeleton. However, this model is not suited to predict the
asymmetric temperature prole for a design with an asymmetric
skeleton. It is foreseen that the model can be extended to other
designs with a nonsymmetric skeleton by accounting for the
heat ux across the polymer lling between the neighboring
segments of the skeleton.
The approximate thermoelastic model uses parallel plates
to model the symmetrically meandered silicon skeleton in the
study of the connement effect. The approximate model shows
that the apparent transverse CTE increases at a decreasing
rate with the aspect ratio, converging to a value that is higher
than the intrinsic CTE at a large aspect ratio. In general, the
approximate model based on the parallel plates delivers a higher
CTE than the actual design with the meander-shaped skeleton
because the parallel plates impose less transverse restraint on
polymeric expansion than the meandered skeleton. However,
the CTE difference between the two diminishes at a large
skeleton width.
Evaluation based on the numerical modeling indicates that
the polymeric actuator with embedded silicon skeleton could
deliver highly in-plane actuation combined with a relatively
high stiffness and an adequate displacement. In addition, this
actuator design tremendously improves the effective thermal
conductivity so that it overcomes the problem of nonuni-
form heating, which troubles a thick insulating polymer. The
present actuator design with embedded skeleton is effective for
in-plane thermal actuation. It outperforms other designs without
skeleton in many aspects.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the DIMESIntegrated
Circuit process group for their support in device fabrication,
and Dr. K. M. B. Jansen, Dr. M. Langelaar, and J. Wei for
stimulating discussions and assistance.
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actuator with embedded silicon skeleton, Part IIIDesign Optimization.
submitted for publication.
Gih-Keong Lau received the degrees of B.Eng.
(with rst-class honors) and M.Eng. (by research)
in mechanical engineering from Nanyang Techno-
logical University (NTU), Singapore, in 1998 and
2001, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Delft
University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands,
in 2007, where his research topics were polymer
microactuators and microfabrication.
From 2001 to 2003, he was a Research Associate
with the Centre for Mechanics of Microsystems,
NTU, where he worked on the topology optimization
of compliant mechanisms and piezoelectric actuators for hard disk drives. Since
2008, he is an Assistant Professor with the School of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering, NTU. His current research interests are electroactive polymers and
their microfabrication.
Johannes F. L. Goosen received the Dutch Ir. degree
in electronic engineering, with a specialization in
avionics, and the Ph.D. degree from Delft University
of Technology (TU Delft), Delft, The Netherlands,
in 1991 and 1996, respectively, where his thesis
was entitled Design and fabrication of a surface
micromachined positioning device. While working
toward the Ph.D. degree, he spent some time at
the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, learning IC
processing. This was followed by four years as a
Postdoctoral Fellow working on the development of
miniature sensors for use in catheters. In this program on minimally invasive
medical procedures, he supervised Ph.D. students and focused on microsensor
design and fabrication for medical applications.
He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Precision and
Microsystems Engineering, under the Faculty of Mechanical, Marietime, and
Materials Engineering, TU Delft. He is currently working on the design
and manufacture of microactuators, microvacuum packages, and micromechan-
ical systems for apping wing ight.
Fred van Keulen received the M.Sc. (cum laude)
degree in mechanical engineering and the Ph.D. de-
gree (nite rotation shell elements, cum laude) from
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Delft,
The Netherlands, in 1987 and 1993, respectively.
He is with TU Delft, where, until 1999, he
was an Associate Professor and was an Antoni
van Leeuwenhoek hoogleraar, a part-time Professor
with the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering from
1999 to 2005, and has been the Chairman of the
Department of Precision and Microsystems Engi-
neering (80fte) since 2005. As a Researcher, he has been with the University
of Florida, Gainesville, the University of Wales, Swansea, U.K., and the
University of Bradford, Bradford, U.K. He was awarded a visiting professorship
with the University of Bradford, Bradford, U.K., from 1999 to 2002. He is the
coauthor or author of about 50 journal papers or reviewed book chapters and
approximately 90 conference publications.
Trinh Chu Duc received the B.S. degree in physics
from Hanoi University of Science, Hanoi, Vietnam,
in 1998, the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineer-
ing from Vietnam National University, Hanoi, in
2002, and the Ph.D. degree from Delft University of
Technology (TU Delft), The Netherlands, in 2007,
where his research was on piezoresistive sensors,
polymeric actuators, sensing microgripper for mi-
croparticle handling, and microsystems technology.
He was with the Laboratory of Electronic Com-
ponents, Technology and Materials, Delft Institute
of Microelectronics and Submicron Technology, TU Delft. He is currently an
Assistant Professor with the Electronics and Communications Faculty, College
Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Pasqualina M. Sarro (M84SM97F07) received
the Laurea degree (cum laude) in solid-states physics
from the University of Naples, Italy, in 1980, and
the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Delft,
The Netherlands, in 1987, where her thesis dealt
with infrared sensors based on integrated silicon
thermopiles.
From 1981 to 1983, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow
with the Photovoltaic Research Group, Division
of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI,
where she worked on thin-lm photovoltaic cell fabrication by chemical spray
pyrolysis. Since 1987, she has been with TU Delft, where she was an Asso-
ciate Professor with the Laboratory of Electronic Components, Technology,
and Materials, Delft Institute of Microelectronics and Submicron Technology
beginning in April 1996, a Full Professor beginning in December 2001, and
where she is currently responsible for research on integrated silicon sensors
and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. She has authored or
coauthored more than 300 journal and conference papers.
Dr. Sarro received the EUROSENSORS Fellow Award in 2004 for her
contribution to the eld of sensor technology. She has served as a Technical
Program Committee member of the European Solid-State Device Research
Conference (since 1995), EUROSENSORS Conferences (since 1999), and
IEEE MEMS (2006 and 2007). She was technical program cochair for the First
IEEE Sensors 2002 Conference and the technical program chair for the Second
and Third IEEE Sensors Conferences (2003 and 2004). She is also a member
of the AdCom of the IEEE Sensors Council.

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. The substitution of the effective

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