Demonstrating Full Integration Process for Electroactive Polymer Microtransducers to Realize Soft Microchips

Actuation and sensing with electroactive polymers should be a chance for flexible MEMS but their micromachining and integration are still not mature. Some innovative materials and microfabrication processes are still expected. In this paper, a first full elaboration of polymeric microtransducers (MTs) including integration and operation has been described. The fabrication process relies on commercially available poly(3,4-ethyledioxy-thiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) conductive ink, onto flexible SU-8 photoresist microchip. Batch-fabrication of complex flexible monolithic units comprising individually addressable MTs of different shapes, is demonstrated. The resulting polymeric MTs show both very promising bending actuation and strain sensing properties in open-air. Remarkably, the microfabrication process did not impact the performances compared to material fabricated with laser cutting. This work paves the way for flexible MEMS development for soft microrobotics, microfluidics in medical and spatial applications.