Design, fabrication and testing of laterally driven electrostatic motors employing walking motion and mechanical leverage

Laterally driven linear electrostatic micromotors have been fabricated by standard surface micromachining. We attempt to employ mechanical leverage with the aim to increase the force from the order of 1 μN up to the order of 0.1 mN, in combination with walking motion to increase the stroke to virtually unlimited. Three designs have been made and tested. We conclude that mechanical levers with proper stiffness characteristics to be driven by electrostatic actuators are feasible. Friction as a function of the applied electrostatic clamp force has been measured, showing that there is a significant adhesion in the clamps. Walking motion has been successfully generated in one of the designs, generating a stroke of 15 μm and a force of 3 μN. Improvement of the clamping is needed to benefit from the implemented levers to increase the generated force.