A study on characteristics of electromagnetic and piezoelectric micro actuators

Electromagnetic actuators are dominant in the macro field. Although there are several hindrances, electromagnetic actuators still have some advantages in the application of micro systems. Piezoelectric actuator is also an attractive drive principle for micro systems due to its large force and simple structure, but some drawbacks inevitably exist. This paper presents a comparative study of both drive principles and a better understanding of the basic performances and limitations of the both principles for the system design.