Cargando…

Localized Mechanical Actuation using pn Junctions

We are reporting on the fabrication and characterization of microscale electromechanical actuators driven by the internal forces induced within the depletion region of a typical pn junction. Depletion region actuators operate based on the modulation of the interactions of the internal electric field...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kanygin, Mikhail, Joy, Abbin Perunnilathil, Bahreyni, Behraad
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6795996/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31619696
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49988-z
_version_ 1783459531699781632
author Kanygin, Mikhail
Joy, Abbin Perunnilathil
Bahreyni, Behraad
author_facet Kanygin, Mikhail
Joy, Abbin Perunnilathil
Bahreyni, Behraad
author_sort Kanygin, Mikhail
collection PubMed
description We are reporting on the fabrication and characterization of microscale electromechanical actuators driven by the internal forces induced within the depletion region of a typical pn junction. Depletion region actuators operate based on the modulation of the interactions of the internal electric field and the net space charge within the depletion region of a pn junction by an external potential. In terms of performance, depletion region actuators fall between electrostatic actuators, where a physical gap separates the charges on two electrodes, and piezoelectric actuators, where the separation between the charges is on the order of lattice constants of the material. An analytic model of depletion region actuator response to an applied potential is developed and verified experimentally. The prototype micro-mechanical device utilized the local stresses produced by the depletion region actuators to generate mechanical vibrations at frequencies far below the resonance frequencies of the structure. A laser Doppler vibrometer was used to measure and compare the displacements and vibration patterns caused by the depletion region and electrostatic actuators. Utilizing depletion region actuators neither requires etching of narrow gaps, which is technically challenging nor is there a need for introducing piezoelectric materials into the fabrication process flow. The simple operating principle and the possibility of exploiting the technique for various optimized linear or nonlinear actuation at small scales provide opportunities for precise electro-mechanical transduction for micro- and nano-mechanical devices. These actuators are therefore suited for the co-fabrication of micro- and nano-mechanical systems and microelectronic circuits. Additionally, the produced strains depend only on the depletion region specifications and the excitation voltage and do not scale with device dimensions. As such, depletion region actuators can be candidates for efficient nanoscale electromechanical actuation.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6795996
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2019
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-67959962019-10-25 Localized Mechanical Actuation using pn Junctions Kanygin, Mikhail Joy, Abbin Perunnilathil Bahreyni, Behraad Sci Rep Article We are reporting on the fabrication and characterization of microscale electromechanical actuators driven by the internal forces induced within the depletion region of a typical pn junction. Depletion region actuators operate based on the modulation of the interactions of the internal electric field and the net space charge within the depletion region of a pn junction by an external potential. In terms of performance, depletion region actuators fall between electrostatic actuators, where a physical gap separates the charges on two electrodes, and piezoelectric actuators, where the separation between the charges is on the order of lattice constants of the material. An analytic model of depletion region actuator response to an applied potential is developed and verified experimentally. The prototype micro-mechanical device utilized the local stresses produced by the depletion region actuators to generate mechanical vibrations at frequencies far below the resonance frequencies of the structure. A laser Doppler vibrometer was used to measure and compare the displacements and vibration patterns caused by the depletion region and electrostatic actuators. Utilizing depletion region actuators neither requires etching of narrow gaps, which is technically challenging nor is there a need for introducing piezoelectric materials into the fabrication process flow. The simple operating principle and the possibility of exploiting the technique for various optimized linear or nonlinear actuation at small scales provide opportunities for precise electro-mechanical transduction for micro- and nano-mechanical devices. These actuators are therefore suited for the co-fabrication of micro- and nano-mechanical systems and microelectronic circuits. Additionally, the produced strains depend only on the depletion region specifications and the excitation voltage and do not scale with device dimensions. As such, depletion region actuators can be candidates for efficient nanoscale electromechanical actuation. Nature Publishing Group UK 2019-10-16 /pmc/articles/PMC6795996/ /pubmed/31619696 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49988-z Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Kanygin, Mikhail
Joy, Abbin Perunnilathil
Bahreyni, Behraad
Localized Mechanical Actuation using pn Junctions
title Localized Mechanical Actuation using pn Junctions
title_full Localized Mechanical Actuation using pn Junctions
title_fullStr Localized Mechanical Actuation using pn Junctions
title_full_unstemmed Localized Mechanical Actuation using pn Junctions
title_short Localized Mechanical Actuation using pn Junctions
title_sort localized mechanical actuation using pn junctions
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6795996/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31619696
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49988-z
work_keys_str_mv AT kanyginmikhail localizedmechanicalactuationusingpnjunctions
AT joyabbinperunnilathil localizedmechanicalactuationusingpnjunctions
AT bahreynibehraad localizedmechanicalactuationusingpnjunctions