A nodal analysis method for simulating the behavior of electrothermal microactuators

This paper presents a novel approach to verify and optimize surface micromachined electrothermal microactuators by using a nodal analysis method. The nodal analysis method for the mechanical and electrostatic devices is a schematic-based method which simplifies the design of MEMS devices significantly. A variety of the surface micromachined electrothermal microactuators have been widely applied in various areas due to the high force provided at a relatively low input voltage. These electrothermal microactuators can also be decomposed into essential elements of beams and anchors. This paper presents the nodal analysis method for the electrothermal microactuators. The temperature dependent properties for the thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity and thermal expansion coefficient of polysilicon beams are included. The effect of the effective axial length for the beams due to lateral deflection and large axial stress is also taken into account. This approach is verified by ANSYS and the simulation data agrees well with each other. It extends the general nodal analyses method to simulate the electrothermal microactuators.