Pulsed heating of the self-actuated cantilever: a one-dimensional exact solution investigation of non-axial temperature gradients

Self-actuated bimorph cantilevers are implemented in a variety of micro-electro-mechanical systems. Their tip deflection relies on the unmatched coefficients of thermal expansion between layers. The thermal bimorph phenomenon is dependent on the temperature rise within the cantilever and, while previous studies have investigated variations in the thermal profile along the cantilever length, these have usually neglected variations in the thermal profile along the cantilever thickness. The current study investigates the thermal distribution across the thickness of the cantilever. The exact closed form solution to the one-dimensional problem of heat conduction in the composite (layered) domain subjected to transient volumetric heating is developed using the appropriate Green’s function. This solution is applied to a one-dimensional case study of a 3-layer cantilever with an Aluminium heater, a silicon dioxide resistive layer, and a silicon base layer. The aluminium heater experiences volumetric heating at a rate of 0.2 mW/μm³ of 5 μs duration at 100 μs intervals (10 kHz with a 1/20 duty cycle). Benchmark solutions of the temperature at select times and positions are provided. It is shown that there are negligible temperature gradients across the cantilever thickness during the heating and the first ~ 5 μs afterward. These short-lived temperature differences are positively biased with the unmatched thermal expansion coefficients between the layers, though their relative influence on bending is not clear. A simple parametric analysis indicates that the relative magnitude of the temperature differences across the cantilever (compared to the overall temperature) decreases substantially with increasing duty cycle.