Improved thermal U-beam actuators for micro-assembly

The paper describes the performance characterization results of an improved U-beam thermal microactuator design compared to a more conventional U-beam structure having similar dimensions. These microactuators are developed for lateral positioning of a single-mode optical fibre to a laser diode chip. This development is part of a feasibility study of an alternative method of performing micro-assembly tasks, i.e. using product internal assembly functions.