Measuring the Temperature of Topology Optimized Electrothermal Microgrippers Using Raman Spectroscopy
In this paper, we present the results of the temperature measurements performed on topology optimized polysilicon microgrippers using Raman spectroscopy. The results reveal that the temperature profile along the actuators is in correspondence with the finite element simulation results presented in [1] except an offset of ∼250 °C due to chip heating. In order to predict this behavior, we included a section of the carrier chip into the finite element model. We also fabricated new devices with wider electrodes to reduce the overall Joule heating. Both finite element simulations and experimental results show that the devices with a wider electrodes design lead to a temperature drop of ∼50 °C as compared to the devices with the previous electrode design.