Nonconductive polymer microresonators actuated by the Kelvin polarization force

The authors present a method, based on the Kelvin polarization force, to actuate nonconductive polymer microstructures. A proof of principle was conducted by finite element simulations. Microresonators made of SU-8 were fabricated and characterized under resonant conditions at applied ac voltage of 5 V-pp. A quality factor of Q=87 in vacuum and a square dependence of the force on the applied voltage were obtained. The presented actuator design and fabrication do not require additional electrodes on the movable structure for actuation and thus allow for the full exploration of the exceptional variety of polymer materials for microscaled actuators and sensors. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.