Arrayed SU-8 polymer thermal actuators with inherent real-time feedback for actively modifying MEMS' substrate warpage

This paper describes the design, fabrication and characterization of a batch-fabricated micro-thermal actuators array with inherent real-time self-feedback, which can be used to actively modify micro-electro-mechanical systems' (MEMS') substrate warpage. Arrayed polymer thermal actuators utilize SU-8 polymer (a thick negative photoresist) as a functional material with integrated Ti/Al film-heaters as a microscale heat source. The electro-thermo-mechanical response of a micro-fabricated actuator was measured. The resistance of the Al/Ti film resistor varies obviously with ambient temperature, which can be used as inherent feedback for observing real-time displacement of activated SU-8 bumps (0.43 mu m Omega(-1)). Due to the high thermal expansion coefficient, SU-8 bumps tend to have relatively large deflection at low driving voltage and are very easily integrated with MEMS devices. Experimental results indicated that the proposed SU-8 polymer thermal actuators (array) are able to achieve accurate rectification of MEMS' substrate warpage, which might find potential applications for solving stress-induced problems in MEMS.