A magnetically driven linear microactuator with new driving method

Recently, electromagnetically driven microactuators have attracted interest because of their availability. We have been studying magnetically driven actuators. This time, a magnetically driven linear microactuator using microsystem fabrication techniques has newly developed. The microactuator is composed of a mobile microplatform (mover) with some permanent magnets and a stator with a large number of planar coils. The planar coils of the stator are made by using photolithography technique and electroless plating technique. In this paper, static and dynamic characteristics of the magnetically driven linear microactuator are discussed. The mobile microplatform of the microactuator can moves at speeds higher than 75 mm/s. The microplatform carries loads more than 0.1 g. As a result of the experiments, the magnetically driven microactuator is found to be useful for a new type positioning mechanism.