Micromachined III-V multimorph actuators for MOEMS applications - concept, design, and model

A multimorph configuration of III-V materials that is based on the global optimization method using the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm is proposed to enhance small intrinsic piezoelectric effect of such materials. In this paper, a novel piezoelectric multimorph microactuator design such as a five-layer multimorph is proposed and analyzed using both numerical and analytical methods for potential microoptoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS) applications. Previously published analytical multimorph models for MEMS, which have been shown to reduce to equivalent expressions, are also presented and used for design optimization. By imposing a set of "real-world" constraints on the designs, optimal device geometries, which are more realistic and visible, have been determined using the SA method. Design tradeoffs are also discussed in terms of potential utility for the multimorph actuator in MOEMS applications. Finally, the proposed multimorph models are verified by finite element simulations results.