• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.10 s.175
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• pp.195-201
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• 2005

A laterally driven electromagnetic microactuator (LaDEM) is presented, and a micro-optical switch is designed and fabricated as a possible application. LaDEM provides parallel actuation of the microactuator to the silicon substrate surface (in-plane mode) by the Lorentz force. Poly-silicon-on-insulator (Poly-SOI) wafers and a reactive ion etching (RIE) process were used to fabricate high-aspect-ratio vertical microstructures, which allowed the equipment of a vertical micro mirror. A fabricated arch-shaped leaf spring has a thickness of $1.8{\mu}m$, width of $16{\mu}m$, and length of $800{\mu}m$. The resistance of the fabricated structure fer the optical switch was approximately 5$\Omega$. The deflection of the leaf springs increases linearly up to about 400 mA and then it demonstrates a buckling behavior around the current value. Owing to this nonlinear phenomenon, a large displacement of $60{\mu}m$ could be measured at 566 mA. The displacement-load relation and some dynamic characteristics are analyzed using the finite element simulations.