Electrostatic actuation and control of micro robots using a post-processed high-voltage SOI CMOS chip

Distributed Intelligent MEMS: Progresses and Perspectives

“…MEMS actuation requires higher voltages than logic which can create problems. Some solutions have been proposed [20] to tackle this problem but a real voltage difference management between actuation and logic is still a challenge.…”

Fast and robust self-organization for micro-electro-mechanical robotic systems

“…Their ap- 10 plications require a massive deployment of nodes, thousands 11 or even millions [8,33] which will give birth to the concept of 12 Distributed Intelligent MEMS (DiMEMS) [4]. 13 The size of MEMS nodes can vary from well below one 14 micron on the lower end of the dimensional spectrum, all the 15 way to several millimeters. A DiMEMS device is composed of 16 typically thousands or even millions of MEMS nodes.…”

“…20 One of the major challenges in developing a microrobot 21 is to achieve a precise movement to reach the destination 22 position while using a very limited power supply. Many 23 different solutions have been studied, for example, within 24 the Claytronics project [1,2,9,13,22] each microrobot helps its 25 neighbor to move to the desired position, which introduce 26 the idea of a collaborative way of moving. However, even 27 if the power requested for moving has been lowered, the 28 moving still costs a lot regarding the communication and 29 computation requirements.…”

A compact stacked-device output driver in low-voltage CMOS Technology

“…Even higher voltage levels up to 20V may be needed for MEMS, line-drivers, automotive applications, and displays [1,2]. Modern fine-linewidth CMOS technologies enable power and area scaling but suffer from limited voltagehandling capabilities even when using dedicated I/O devices.…”