Non-Linear Displacement Mechanisms of Thermally Actuated MEMS Chevron

Non-linearity in actuation of MEMS devices are essential in many applications. Previously, we presented the design and modeling of a NanoThermoMechanical AND logic gate, which is one of the building blocks of thermal computing (i.e., data processing based on heat instead of electricity). The gate is achieved through the coupling between near-field thermal radiation and MEMS thermal actuation. In the process, we developed two novel non-linear displacement mechanism of thermally actuated microstructure silicon V-shaped chevron beams which were required to achieve the desired thermal AND gate operation. In this work, we introduce the design, fabrication, and characterization of the two non-linear mechanisms using novel and ingenious chevron mechanisms consisting of spring-assisted reduction and cascading chevrons amplification for the reducing and the amplification mechanisms, respectively. The results show non-linearity can be achieved successfully through demonstrated and easy-to-manufacture chevron mechanisms. [2019-0233]