DJde

EMS 9-11

Apri12008

Electrostatically Driven Microgripper Integrated

Piezoresistive Force Sensor
Tao Chen 1, Liguo Chen 1, Lining Sun1, Xinxin Li2
1 State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Robotics Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, CIllNA;
2 State Key Lab of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Shanghai 200050, CIllNA
Abstract-This paper presents the design, fabrication, and

application of an electrostatically driven microgripper

integrated piezoresistive force sensor. The microgripper is
designed to manipulate two microobjects at the same time with
force sensing ability. Surface and bulk micromachining
technology is employed to fabricate the microgripper from
single crystal silicon wafer. The end effector of the gripper is a
four arms structure, two fixed cantilever beams integrated with
piezoresistive sensor are designed to sensing the gripping force,
and an electrostatically driven microactuator is designed to
provide the force to operate the other two movable arms. In this
way, the four fingers structure enables the gripper to grasp two
samples with different sizes at the same time. Experimental
results show that it can successfully provide force sensing and
play a main role in preventing damage of microparts in
micromanipulation and microassembly tasks.
I.

INTRODUCTION

Micromanipulation and microassembly are important

emerging techniques that serve as enabling techniques for a
wide variety of applications in biological and biomedical
of
research,
as
well
as
in
the
assembly
microelectromechanical
systems
(MEMS)
and
microelectronic devices [1-4]. In order to handle small parts
effectively and efficiently under uncertain environment [14,
15], a carefully designed feedback-sensor based
micro-gripper is critical.
Many different microgrippers have been presented in the
literature [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] due to recent advances in
micromachining technology. The laser micromachining [11],
the silicon surface micromachining [7], LIGA [12] and the
Electro-Discharge Machining (EDM) techniques [6, 8] are
used to fabricate different kinds of microgrippers. There are
also different types of actuators and sensors for microgrippers.
For example, electrostatic actuators [7], piezoactuators [5, 9],
vacuum actuators [10], and Lorentz force-type actuators like
voice-coil motors [11] are used in generating the
microgripper's motion. When it comes to the sensorization of
microgrippers, many microgrippers integrated with
piezoresistive force sensor [5] or a semiconductor
strain-guage sensor have been reported.
In micro/nano manipulation areas, the fundamental
requirements ofthe microgripper are the large force to weight

EDA Publishing/DTIP 2008

376

ratio, the high precision actuation, and the feedback-sensing

capability [13]. Meanwhile, micromanipulation of
micron-sized parts requires the use of miniaturized grippers
with end-effectors on the size-scale of the manipulated
objects.
MEMS technology allows for the fabrication of such
devices that meet these requirements. Both suitable
end-effectors and actuators can be fabricated with MEMS
technology. Kim and Pisano [7] firstly reported a surface
micromachined polysilicon microgripper, which utilizes
electrostatic force without any sensing capability. Arai et a!. [5]
fabricated the micropyramids and the integrated
piezoresistive force sensor on the micro end-effector to
reduce and control the adhesive force in microgripping tasks.
In [6] an electro-thermally actuated microgripper with
integrated force sensor is presented. It is fabricated on the
wafer-level using a simple fabrication process. Unfortunately,
the sensitivity is much lower compared to hybrid designs
making it impossible to measure the small forces dominating
micromanipulation processes. The gripper proposed by
Y.Sun [12] was actuated by electrostatic force and include a
capacitive force sensor measuring the gripping force, while
measuring the small capacity change is also a difficult work.
This paper presents a new design for such a gripper with
electrostatic actuation and piezoresistive force sensing. Main
features of the new microgripper are: (1) the gripper is
actuated by electrostatic actuator and integrated
piezoresistive force sensor to sensing the gripping force. (2)
the gripper is designed as a four-arm structure to manipulate
two microobjects with different size at the same time. This
sensorized microgripper can be successfully used in
microassembly system for force-controlled micro gripping.
II.

DESIGN OF THE MICRO-GRIPPER

A. Configuration
Fig. 1 shows a model ofthe microgripper. The dimension is
6.2mmX3.5mmXO.05mm. This gripper has been designed
to accomplish three requirements:
- Handle objects ofa size ranging from 15J.U11 to 150~m
- Provide force feedback of the gripping force during
manipulation
- Have the capability of gripping two objects with different
sizes at the same time.

ISBN: 978-2-35500-006-5

BIIBEMS9-11

April 2008
The tweezers 1 and tweezers 3 can be used to handling
objects with sizes from 30J.U11 to 90J!m, and the gripping force
can be sensed. Meanwhile, the two tweezers can work at the
same time. The tweezers 2 can be used to handling large
objects with sizes ranging from 90J!m to 150J.U11, but the
gripping force can not be controlled.

Fig.l Microgripper model

This is a four-arms structure which enables the gripper can

be used as three different tweezers. The arm 1 and arm 4 are
fixed arms as the force sensor beams. The arm 2 and arm 3 are
moveable arms which are actuated by electrostatic comb. The
comb microactuator generates a linear horizontal motion,
which is converted into rotational motion of the arm 2 and
arm 3 by a hinge and flexible beam system to realize the
gripping motion.
To pick up an object, the arm 2 or arm 3 is pushed to close
with the arm 1 or arm 4. This generates a gripping force that
deflects the fixed arms 1 and arm 4. The deflection is
measured by the piezoresistance for force sensing on the end
of the fixed beams, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The deflection of
the arm is proportional to the gripping force and is
independent of the size or the mechanical properties of the
object which is gripped. In addition, the arm 2 and the arm3
also constitute another tweezers without force sensing when
the supply voltage of the electrostatic comb reduces.

B. Design ofthe electrostatic actuator

Lateral comb drives have been chosen to actuate the
gripper. The comb microactuator includes static counter
electrodes, which are anchored to the glass ground pad, and a
movable shuttle with comb finger electrodes, which is
supported by a system of flexible bearing beams. The static
electrodes and the shuttle part are electrically isolated. By
applying a voltage between the static electrodes and the
shuttle, a driving force is generated.
Configuration of the interdigitated comb fingers used for
the microgripper is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Dimensions of the comb finger electrodes

There is no initial fingers overlap. If the edge effect is

ignored, the value of whole capacitance Ce caused by comb
fingers is:

= 2ne

{y+Ay)t

ht

+(2n-l)ea

(1)

Where e=8.85 X 10-12C2/(Nm2) is the permittivity of air, n

is the number of the comb fingers, t is the thickness of the
fingers, b is the width of each comb finger, and d is the
distance between the plates.
The total driving force Fe is given by

1)

F =neV 2 -t - ( n-- eV 2 -ht2

e

Fig. 2 The arms of the gripper

The initial distance between fingers are designed as follows:

d1=60J.Ull is the distance between the arm 1 and the arm2,
d2=90J.Ull is the distance between the arm 2 and the arm3,
d3=90J.Ull is the distance between the arm3 and the arm4. The
movable distance ofthe arm 2 and the arm 3 are 30J!m, in this
way, three tweezers integrated microgripper is fabricated with
different specifications as illustrated in Table1.
TABLE I
Specifications of the three tweezers gripper
Tweezers arms
Tweezers 1
Tweezers 2
Tweezers 3

ann! and arm2

annl and arm2
annl and arm2

EDA Publishing/DTIP 2008

Opening
range(J,lm)
30-60
90-150
60-90

Force sensing
ability
Yes
No
Yes

377

(2)

Where V is the driving voltage

A design of the microgripper has been fabricated with the
following features: b=5J.Ull, d=2.5J!m, a=15J!m, the length of
the comb finger is 25J.U11, and the thickness of the finger is
50J.U11. Fig.4 shows the FEM analysis results of the gripper
and the modal analysis is shown in Table 2.
According to the theoretical and FEM analysis results,
when the driving voltage V=30V, the moving distance of
electrostatic comb fingers are 8J.U11, and the translational
movement of the comb drive is converted into a rotational
movement of the gripper arm. The motion of the end-effector
is amplified by a factor of four to 32J!m by transforming the
motion of the comb drives in a rotational movement. The
electrostatic driving force is 580J!N at a driving voltage of
30V, and the corresponding maximal gripping force is about
150J!N. It means that the flexible beam configuration

ISBN: 978-2-35500-006-5

[)I~

BEMS9-11 Apri12008

magnifies the movement ofthe comb fingers and minifies the

force output.
r:

~t; (J .'~

surface. The boron diffusing using in this paper can form

O.7Jlm -1J.Ull PN junction. Therefore the area of the
piezoresistance to measure the gripping force F is about
I00J.U11 X (O.7Jlm

< . . . . < .. > . < <

and

1.S

. .

1 111/\\1
111

(a) FEM analysis of stress

:1..1

Fig. 5 The piezoresistance cantilever

~"1

:~,[:

~~:

Based on the stress distribution in the beam derived from

FEM analysis shown in Fig.6, piezoresistances are placed and
connected so as to maximize the sensitivities to various
components offorce and moment. The piezoresistive effect of
conventional single crystalline piezoresistors can be
expressed as below:

M
S =-=

(b) FEM analysis of displacement

Fig. 4 FEM analysis of the microgripper

7Z"440"atia/ (x) dt

Where M? / R is the relative change of resistance in a

conventional piezoresistance due to the longitudinal stress,

TABLE II
Modal analysis

U axial

is the corresponding piezoresistance coefficient.

NODALSOLllTICIl

The first-order is most important in the using of this

gripper. And 3474.0Hz can satisfy the frequency influence of
drive-voltage in gripping.
C Design ofthe piezoresistanceforce sensor
When compared with the other material of the pressure
sensor, the semi-conductor pressure sensor has small physical
volume and weight but better accuracy and temperature
characteristic, above all, the manufacturing process of
semi-conductor pressure sensor is consistent with Ie, and this
satisfied the development of semi-conductor pressure sensor
to lead to the direction of integration and intelligence. Now
the most general semi-conductor pressure sensor is the PN
junction type pressure sensor that made by distribution
process. Main advantage of the piezoresistive sensor is the
simple process, low cost. In this paper it is integrated in one
end of the gripper to measure the gripping force.
The main processes of piezoresistance are boron injecting
and boron diffusion. Boron injecting is along z axis, and
forms the resistance areas 1OOJlm X 4~ in X- Y coordinate
surface as shown in Fig. 5.
But the force F is lateral direction along X axis and the bend
of the cantilever is inX-Y coordinate surface. Then the boron
diffusing is utilized to form the piezoresistance on Y-Z

EDA Publishing/DTIP 2008

(3)

378

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STEP-l
SOB.l
TlME.l

slm

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15,25,25

(AWl

I1X 384E-07
SMN . 033825
SMX . 1l5E.07

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Fig. 6 FEM analysis of the piezoresistance

Piezoresistances are arranged near enough to the end of the

fixed beam to maximize the sensitivities, and the stress status
at each conventional piezoresistor is uniaxial. And in the
measuring system, two resistances form is shown in Fig. 7.
The resistances of two sensing resistors change in opposite
direction if a lateral force is applied. The bridge configuration
of the resistors compensates for the signals caused by the
deflection. When a lateral load is applied to the tip of the
cantilever, the differential change of resistance occurs on the
two resistors Rs1 and Rs2 The other piezoresistors R], R2 are
the compensation resistors.
When the piezoresistance value is changed by 6. R the
lateral output signal is given by:

ISBN: 978-2-35500-006-5

fiR

dV=-V
2R power

[)I] ~EMS9-11

1
=-tr
V
4 44 a.
axlal,max power

(4)

Where Jj,ower is the supply voltage and R is the resistance of

the non-stressed piezoresistor. The output is expected to
change with 1-3mV when the applied force changes 10JlN,
which yields a sensitivity of 100-300 VIN depending on the
geometry of the cantilevers and the characteristics of the
piezoresistive layer.

Rsl

April 2008

GND

Fig. 7 Half Wheatstone bridge

An important feature of the force sensor is that it can also

be used to measure adhesive forces during pick-and-place
manipulations. When the gripper arm is close to the object to
be gripped, the arml (the arm4) is pulled to the right (left) by
surface forces which is measured as a negative force.

III.

FABRATION OF THE MICROGRIPPERS

In this paper we report on microgrippers fabricated from

silicon wafers by a surface and bulk micromachining
fabrication technology.
The fabrication sequence is illustrated in Fig. 8.
A) The N(lOO) silicon wafer with 430Jlm is used for the
process and is firstly oxidized.
B) The boron area is photoetched on one side.
C) The boron is infused in the area. The dosage and energy
are 4.8E15 and 25KeV. After the boron diffusing about
1Jlm deep PN junction is formed as the piezoresistance
sensor.
D) Junction photoetching of wires and resistances.
E) 1Jlm of aluminum is sputtered and evaporated on the
whole area.
F) The aluminum thin film is photoetched for
interconnection.
G) The wires and the pads are created by etching the metal
for wire-bonding.
H) The back release window is etched 380Jll1l using DRIE
dry etching.
I) Then the glass wafer and silicon wafer are bonded
together to form the support base and the glass becomes
the nonconductor for the electrostatically driven.
1) The device layer, including the flexures, comb drives and
gripper arms are etched using DRIE dry etching. The
thickness of the structure is about 50Jlm.

EDA Publishing/DTIP 2008

379

Fig. 8 Process sequence of microgripper fabrication

Fig.9 shows a microscope image of the microgripper

fabricated with the described process. Flexible beams are
improved to reduce the drive resistance in processing.

Fig. 9 Microscope pictures of the fabricated gripper

IV.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The gripper is glued and wire-bonded directly on a

connecting pcb board, and the board is fixed to the main pcb
board with the readout electronics as shown in Figure 10. The
main pcb-board was mounted on a 3-axis stage. A microscope

ISBN: 978-2-35500-006-5

sensitivity and is monolithically fabricated.

The gripper presented in this paper is unique not only due
to its high resolution and sensitivity, but also because it is
monolithically fabricated. More than 100 grippers can be
fabricated from a single 100mm wafer. Combined with the
low cost readout chip, the gripper does not require a large or
complicated setup. Optical fibers have been successfully
manipulated and the gripping force have been measured in
real-time. The gripping system provides an inexpensive way
for micromanipulation and micro-assembly tasks.

is used to observe the manipulation processes.

Microscope
3 axis stage
Wire bonded
micro-gripper
Connecting
PCB board

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank the National High

Technology and Research and Development Program of
China through Grant Number 2006AA04Z256 for the support
to this work.

Main PCB
board
~...........,.......~Readout

electronics
Fig.l0 Pcb board with gripper mounted on a 3 axis stage

REFERENCES

Voltages ranging from 0 to 30V are used for actuation. This

creates a deflection of 81J1ll in the comb drives. The deflection
is amplified by a factor of four resulting in a deflection of
32J.Ull at the arm tip.
The breakdown voltage of the PN junction is about 75V.
Therefore the voltage between 30V-50V is effective. The
gripping force can be increased with the increasing of the
driving voltage.
An experiment of grasping optical fibers with different
sizes is performed with the gripper. Fig.ll(a) shows a 70~m
fiber is grasped by the tweezers 3, and the gripping force is
sensed to be about 80~N when the driving voltage is 25V.
Fig.11 (b) shows a 120J.Ull fiber is grasped by the tweezers2,
but the gripping force can not be detected.

[1]
[2]

[3]

[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]

[9]
[10]

Fig.ll Grasping the Optical fibers with different tweezers in the gripper

[11]

It is found that this fabrication technology and the

microgripper configuration are reliable. More experiments
will performed in the further work to test the capability of the
microgripper.
V.

CONCLUSION

A MEMS gripper for manipulating micron-sized objects is

presented. The gripper has four fingers and therefore three
tweezers are integrated on the gripper. The gripper can be
used to handling a wide range of objects from 30~m to 90J.Ull
with the sensing of gripping force. In addition, the gripper can
also be used to grasp large objects with sizes ranging from
90J.Ull to 150J.Ull, but the gripping force can not be controlled.
The gripper provides real-time force feedback with a high

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380

[12]

[13]
[14]

[15]

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ISBN: 978-2-35500-006-5