Vertical electrothermal actuator with separated metal and nitride structural layers.

We report on a novel low-power, large-displacement, vertical electrothermal actuator made of multiple materials, primarily silicon nitride, polysilicon, and nickel. The architecture of separated metal and nitride layers bypasses the limitation imposed by conventional bimorph actuators. A vertical tip displacement of 20 mcan be achieved at a driving current as low as 1.06 mA. The corresponding power consumption is 16.29 mW. Devices with different combinations of parameter values are characterized and compared. At the end of the work, we compare our device with several selections from the archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]