Microelectronic Engineering 83 (2006) 12121215

www.elsevier.com/locate/mee

Fabrication of actuator for nanopositioning

using laser micro-machining
V. Lendraitis
a

a,*
,

M. Brikas b, V. Snitka a, V. Mizariene_ a, G. Raciukaitis

Research Center for Microsystems and Nanotechnology, Kaunas University of Technology, Studentu 65, Kaunas LT -51369, Lithuania
b
Institute of Physics, Savanoriu ave 231, Vilnius LT- 02300, Lithuania
Available online 28 February 2006

Abstract
Recent progress in the development of diode-pumped mode-locked (picosecond) lasers has increased interest in their industrial application, especially in microfabrication. The theoretical modelling and experimental results of static and dynamic characteristics of a microactuators developed for micro/nanorobotics and manufactured by laser micro-machining are presented in this paper. The laser micromachined exures based silicon membrane was used as a moving part of the actuator. The static and dynamic characteristics of designed
actuator were simulated using nite element method (Ansys package). The developed microactuator demonstrates the possibility to drive
the object up to 40 lm with control voltage 200 V.
2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Electrostatic actuator; Laser micro-machining; Nanopositioning

1. Introduction
Many micro/nanorobotic applications require multidegree of freedom positioning at micro and nanoscales.
Actuation technologies capable of providing motion at this
scale includes piezoactuators [1], microstepping motors,
highly geared electromagnetic servomotors and Lorentz
force-type actuators such as voice coil motors [2]. The
nanotechnology applications require more complex specications, including the wide dynamic range of nanopositioning systems. It means the new, innovative solutions have to
be found for the actuation methods, materials, and design.
The silicon as mechanical material and laser micro-machining open a new possibilities in actuators design.
Microfabrication with lasers today is in such a situation
when struggle takes place in two fronts: machining quality
and eciency. Quasi-cw and Q-switched lasers act as a
pure thermal heat source. Those, nanosecond, lasers are
time eective tools, but they require additional steps to
remove recast. One of the promising ways for progress in
*

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +370 37 451588.

E-mail address: vitas.lendraitis@ktu.lt (V. Lendraitis).

0167-9317/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mee.2006.01.203

laser machining is the use of shorter pulses. They enable

to decrease the remaining thermal impact and ablation
threshold [3,4]. Interest in picoseconds lasers has increased
recently. They have the potential to improve machining
quality as compared to that achievable with longer pulses
[5]. In this work we present the theoretical modeling and
experimental results of our research on microfabrication
of silicon actuator by picosecond laser.
2. Electrostatic model of actuator
The classical model used in order to model the work of
electrostatic microactuator is to consider a rigid plate
attached by a spring and submitted to an electrostatic eld
(Fig. 1).
To achieve the simulation of the system represented in
Fig. 1, the calculation is based on the mechanical law governing the electrostatic actuator which can be expressed as
follows:
2

mz b_z kz e0 A=2g  z V 2

where z is the deection, m the mass, b the damping factor,

k the spring value. K depends on the geometry of the

V. Lendraitis et al. / Microelectronic Engineering 83 (2006) 12121215

1213

-5

x 10

Displacement, m

5
2
4
3
3
2

Fig. 1. A model of an electrostatic actuator.

50

100

150

200

Control voltage, V
Fig. 3. Four turns of the actuator with Archimedes curve shape spring: 1
gap between the plates (130 lm); 2 gap between the plates (140 lm); 3
gap between the plates (150 lm); and 4 gap between the plates (160 lm).

-5

Fig. 2. The microactuator displacement in static mode: (a) Archimedes

curve shape spring and (b) conical shape spring.

x 10

Table 1
The substance characteristics of membrane actuator
Materials

E (GPa)

q (103) (kg/m3)

h (lm)

Al
Si (substrate)

70.3
120

0.345
0.42

2.69
2.33

0.3
300

Note: E Young module; l Poison coecient; q substance density; h

substance thickness.

microstructure. The excitation is represented with the electrostatic pressure through a gap g applied on the plate surface A, with V the voltage and e0 the permittivity. The mass
can be expressed with the geometrical characteristics of the
plate m = r h A, with r the volume density and h the plate
thickness.
While performing the modeling of tested structure
applying nite elements method (FEM), the structure is
presented (Fig. 2) as a nite elements mode in ANSYS software by using elements of type shell43. Shell43 is a 4-nodes
plastic large strain element [6]. The materials properties of
the membrane actuator are listed in Table 1.
Figs. 3 and 4 show the results of a driving microactuator
at 0200 V applied voltage.

Displacement, m

1
1.5
2
1
3
0.5
4

0
0

50

100

150

200

Control voltage, V
Fig. 4. Four turns conical spring: 1 gap between the plates (130 lm); 2
gap between the plates (140 lm); 3 gap between the plates (150 lm); 4
gap between the plates (160 lm).

3. Experimental set-up
Laser machining experiments were performed on the
workstation that included picoseconds laser, beam delivery system and galvanoscanner. The laser with lamppumped regenerative amplier (PL2241, EKSPLA Ltd.)
generated pulses of 60 ps duration at 1064 nm wavelength
and 250 Hz repetition rate (Fig. 5). Attenuator made of a
half-wave plate and polarizer was used to change laser
pulse energy. Scanner ScanGine14 (Scanlab) with the

Fig. 5. Laser micro-machining experimental set-up.

f-theta lens of the 160 mm focal length was used for laser
beam steering. The spot diameter was 35 lm.
Experiments were performed on silicon wafers with the
thicknesses 300 lm. The pulse energy and overlap and
number of scans were varied during cutting experiments.

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V. Lendraitis et al. / Microelectronic Engineering 83 (2006) 12121215

4. Design and micro-machining

5. Results
Actuators displacement was investigated by atomic
force microscope (AFM) Quesant QScope-250 in contact
mode with cantilever force constant 0.1 N/m. The displacement was measured applying direct current voltage to the
actuator and imaging the actuator surface displacement
during the scan. The surface 3D image is presented in
Fig. 8. The displacement was measured directly from the
AFM image cross-section.

Fig. 6. Design comparison of actuator geometries using laser micromachining: (a) exures; (b) Archimedes spring; and (c) conical spring.

Fig. 8. AFM image of actuators surface displacement in static mode at

dierent control voltages. Z range: 300 nm.

4.0x10-5
Displacment, m

The design goals are as follows: Stroke, Output force,

Driving voltage. The stroke in the out-ofplane direction
needs to be 40 lm. The driving voltage needs to be less than
250 V. Design of actuator geometries using laser micromachining are shown in Fig. 6.
The range for gentle machining of silicon with pslaser was estimated in previous experiments. The increase
in the ablation rate at beam uence >100 J/cm2 was
accompanied by crack formation around the upper rim
of the hole. All the experiments in this work were performed with ps-laser uence well below this value. Recast
material was spread within the distance of 42 lm with burr
height of 0.3 lm. It can be easily removed by soak into an
ultrasound bath for 10 min. According to the investigations made by Luft et al. [7] in silicon at high laser uences,
a recast layer on walls does not disappear even for 200 fs
pulses. Heat from the recast material stimulates the formation of a heat-aected zone (HAZ) irrespective of applied
pulse duration.
The kerf width was 3540 lm wide, which was bigger
than the spot size (25 lm) (Fig. 7). The rim of the kerf
on the entry side was always sharp, smooth and crack-free.

1
2
3

3.0x10-5
2.0x10-5
1.0x10-5
0.0
0

50

100

150

200

Control voltage,V
Fig. 9. Experimental results of displacement in static mode: 1 Archimedes curve spring; 2 conical spring and 3 plane exures.

The driving characteristics of the Archimedes curve

shape spring, conical spring and exures were also examined. Fig. 9 shows the characteristics of the tip height versus the applied voltage. Driving voltage was used 0200 V.
The gap between the plates is a 140 lm.
6. Conclusions
The dierent shape, conical, Archimedes curve, exible
actuators were micro-machined by picosecond laser technology. Static and dynamic characteristics were investigated. It was demonstrated that the designed actuators
produce the 40 lm displacement under the 200 V control
voltage. The determined rst mode resonance frequency
was 132 Hz Archimedes spring, 252 Hz conical spring,
and 400 Hz plane exures. It was demonstrated that silicon micro-machined electrostatic driven actuators can be
used in a dierent nanomanipulation systems.
Further research includes the realization of actuators for
scanning probe microscopy applications.
Acknowledgement
This work was nancially supported by Lithuanian
State Science and Education Fund programme Functional materials and molecular mechanisms under the
contract C-17/2005
References

Fig. 7. The image of entry side of cuts made in silicon by laser pulses of
60 ps duration and wavelength of 266 nm.

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