Ni-carbon nanotubes nanocomposite for robust microelectromechanical systems fabrication

Li Nuan Tsai*, Yu-Ting Cheng, Wen-Syang Hsu, Weileun Fang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

This article presents a novel fabrication process to enhance the operational performance and reliability of electrothermal microactuators. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (outer diameter: 10-20 nm, inner diameter: 5-10 nm, length: 0.5-200 μm) are incorporated in an electrolytic nickel deposition process in which a well-dispersed Ni-CNTs colloidal solution is made by a special acid oxidative method to synthesis a Ni-CNTs nanocomposite for device fabrication. Measurement results show that the microactuator plated with CNTs (0.028 gL) needs the power requirement less 95% than the pure nickel device at the same output displacement of 3 μm. The performance improvement of the electrothermal microactuator made of the nanocomposite, including device strength and power efficiency, has shown to be similar to the Ni-diamond composites (L. N. Tsai, G. R. Shen, Y. T. Cheng, and W. S. Hsu, The 54th Electronic Components and Technology Conference, June 2004, pp. 472-476)). In addition, the Eρ ratio of the Ni-CNTs composite can be enhanced to 1.47 times higher than that of pure nickel, which is a fascinating result for resonant device fabrication.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)205-210
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures
Volume24
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2006

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Ni-carbon nanotubes nanocomposite for robust microelectromechanical systems fabrication'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this