Development of electrostatic microactuators: 5-year progress in modeling, design, and applications

Abstract

The implementation of electrostatic microactuators is one of the most popular technical solutions in the field of micropositioning due to their versatility and variety of possible operation modes and methods. Nevertheless, such uncertainty in existing possibilities creates the problem of choosing suitable methods. This paper provides an effort to classify electrostatic actuators and create a system in the variety of existing devices. Here is overviewed and classified a wide spectrum of electrostatic actuators developed in the last 5 years, including modeling of different designs, and their application in various devices. The paper provides examples of possible implementations, conclusions, and an extensive list of references.