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Finite Element Analysis of Aluminum Nitride Bimorph Actuators – The Influence of Contact Geometry and Position

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

V. R. Pagán  and
D Korakakis
V. R. Pagán
Affiliation:
vpagan@mix.wvu.edu, West Virginia University, Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
D Korakakis
Affiliation:
Dimitris.Korakakis@mail.wvu.edu, West Virginia University, Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
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Abstract

In this work, the results of 3-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) homogeneous bimorphs (d31 mode) are shown. The coupled-field FEA simulations were performed using the commercially available software tool ANSYS. The effect of altering the contact geometry and position on the displacement, electric field, stress, and strain distributions for the static case is reported.

Piezoelectric beams are commonly used in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and also have many possible applications in smart sensor and actuator systems. For example, they have been used as the active element in microfluidic and microactuator MEMS devices. In the actuator mode, they employ the converse piezoelectric effect to couple electrical energy into mechanical deformation. Aluminum Nitride (AlN) based devices have attracted much interest because AlN is a piezoelectric material with high thermal stability, high dielectric strength, a reasonable electromechanical coupling coefficient, and a perfect compatibility with standard silicon processing techniques.

Keywords

piezoelectricactuatorsimulation
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1129: Symposium V – Materials and Devices for Smart Systems III , 2008 , 1129-V11-01
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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References

REFERENCES

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