title: Microcantilever actuation via periodic internal heating.
abstract: This paper reports electrothermal actuation of silicon microcantilevers having integrated resistive heaters. Periodic electrical excitation induced periodic resistive heating in the cantilever, while the cantilever deflection was monitored with a photodetector. Excitation was either at the cantilever resonant frequency, f(0), f(0)/2, or f(0)/3. When the time averaged maximum cantilever temperature was 174 degrees C, the cantilever out-of-plane actuation amplitude was 484 nm near the cantilever resonance frequency of 24.9 kHz. This actuation was sufficiently large to operate the cantilever in intermittent contact mode and scan a calibration grating of height of 20 nm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Jungchul
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: William P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: King