Electroactive Polymer Actuator for Lens-Drive Unit in Auto-Focus Compact Camera Module

We propose a lens-drive unit composed of an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) for an auto-focus compact camera module in cellular phones to solve the power consumption problem of voice coil motors which are widely used in commercial products. In this research, an IPMC incorporated into a lens-drive unit is designed to implement a large displacement in low-power consumption by using an anisotropic plasma treatment. Experimental results show that a camera module containing IPMCs can control and maintain the position of the lens by using proportional integral derivative control with a photo-reflective position sensor despite the non-linear actuation behavior of IPMCs. We demonstrate that the fabrication and commercialization of a lens actuator that has a large displacement and low power consumption using IPMCs is possible in the near future.