Micro Actuator Array based on Ionic Polymer with Patterned Self-Assembled Au Electrode

M. Le Guilly, C. Xu, M. Taya and Y. Kuga
University of Washington, US

Keywords: ionic polymer, self assembly, plasma polymerization, array, patterning, MEMS

Abstract:
A new fabrication technique is proposed to create electrodes on thin ionic polymer membranes for micro actuator applications. The technique consists in plasma deposition of a thin (a few nm) allylamine coating on the membrane followed by stepwise assembly of Au colloids on the amine surface into a conductive electrode. Patterned gold electrodes can be created by using a stencil mask during allylamine plasma deposition. The influence of the allylamine plasma conditions on the electrode and the subsequent actuator is studied. A Flemion membrane (14m) with a low power plasma allylamine coating and 10 sequential assemblies of Au colloids showed a fast, repeatable actuation at +/-1.5V.

Nanotech 2004 Conference Technical Program Abstract