In this work, a robust metallic amplification unit for piezoelectric microactuators is presented. The mechanism which is
implemented with a sliced membrane structure made from a superelastic nickel titanium alloy is based on a mechanical
lever in order to amplify the small piezoelectrically induced deformation. Therefore, increased stroke can be provided up
to high frequencies. The fabrication process using laser ablation, the assembly process, the static and dynamic
simulations and experimental measurements are reported. An amplification factor of 9 has been achieved for a specific
load transmission point position. The dynamic response shows a quality factor of 25 at 11.97 kHz for the first mode.
Compared to silicon, nickel titanium shows enhanced properties against failure and facilitates the integration process.
To ensure an enhanced life-time of micromachined devices, passivation layers are commonly applied to protect functionalized components against environmental stress. For flow sensitive elements on a flexible polyimide foil the use of reactively sputter-deposited aluminium oxide is investigated. Due to a high defect density located at the interface between the passivation layer and the organic substrate, the adhesion of the pure aluminium oxide thin films on the organic substrate was found to be poor when applying a combination of mechanical and thermal treatment as an accelerated ageing procedure. A bi-layer consisting of aluminium nitride and aluminium oxide is proposed to enhance the low adhesion capability being strongly disadvantageous for any technical application.
Aerospace applications of MEMS products, originally developed for automotive mass markets, are discussed. Various sensor examples with a high dual use potential are presented: inertial sensing, flow and gas sensing, robust micro sensors including SiC- and GaN-based devices, as well as first approaches towards flexible and distributed microsystems. In Europe the automotive industry is one of the main MEMS market drivers, simply because of the sheer size of this market and Europe's strong position in this industrial field. Main MEMS activities are development and integration of vehicle dynamics sensing systems, passenger safety and navigation systems, air and fuel intake systems, as well as sensor systems for exhaust gas after treatment and climate control. Benefits on the customer side are increased safety, passenger comfort and reduced fuel consumption. Benefits on the manufacturer's side are increased sub-system integration, modularity and reduced production cost. In the future the aerospace industry is likely to benefit from the introduction of micro-systems for the same reasons as the automotive industry. Interests of the aerospace industry are increasing safety and reliability of airplane operation, health and state monitoring of fuselage and airplane subsystems as well as improving service and maintenance procedures. In comparison to automotive applications, the numbers of devices needed is likely to be much smaller, however, new challenges arise in so far as distributed sensing and actuating microsystems will be needed. The idea is to identify and to exploit synergies between automotive mass market MEMS applications and lower-volume aerospace ones. The effort necessary to meet aerospace requirements and the extent of necessary trade-offs in customizing automotive MEMS is addressed considering the above-mentioned examples.
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