Thermal actuation of a GaAs cantilever beam

The design and performance of a thermally-actuated GaAs cantilever beam are presented. To actuate the cantilever beam an integrated GaAs MESFET heater was used. A comprehensive cantilever thermal actuation performance is analysed by experiment and simulation. The thermally-actuated GaAs cantilever shows excellent linearity and a high electro-mechanical conversion efficiency (?E = 0.802??m?mW-1). The method of two-dimensional numerical modelling and simulation is proposed to study its thermal and thermo-mechanical properties. The measured and simulated thermo-mechanical and electro-mechanical conversion characteristics are compared, indicating the viability of the simulation method used for further micromechanical analysis.