Electronic Materials: Science & Technology Microactuators

219 8. 4 Polymer Waveguide Chemical Sensors 251 8. 8 Ultrasonic Gas and Chemical Sensors 257 8. 8 References 274 Subject Index 279 Micro-Actuators (Electrical, Magnetic, Thermal, Optical, Mechanical, and Chemical) It has become quite apparent that sensors and actuators are the main bottleneck of the modem information processing and control systems. This text provides comprehensive coverage of the emerging topic of microactuators that has attracted much attention in recent years. Largely owing to the microfabrication methods used in the microelectrics industry, microactuators are being developed at a very fast rate. The book covers the fundamentals of actuation in a textbook manner and it exposes the reader to some research examples. In combining fundamentals with the latest reported actuators, this book distinguishes itself from other monographs or textbooks. The main intended audiences of Microactuators are academic and industrial researchers and graduate students interested in initiating projects in microactuators. It can also be used as a textbook for a senior/graduate level course in the general area of sensors and actuators.