Design and simulation analysis of an integrated xyz micro-actuator for controlling displacement of a scanning probe

We report an integrated micro-actuator for independent control of the displacement in three orthogonal directions. Electrostatic comb drives are employed for controlling the displace- ment in the x and y directions while a parallel plate-type actuation is used for driving the displacement in the z direction. The three actuators are mechanically coupled, but are elec- trically isolated. The calculation models are established for investigating the operation char- acteristics of the micro-actuator. The calculated results are in good agreement with those obtained by the finite element method in Comsol Multiphysics 4.3. The results of modal analysis show that the displacement in the three orthogonal directions can be independently controlled with low mode cross-talk.