In this chapter, the applications of liquid crystals (LCs) to microactuators which are suitable for MEMS usage are introduced. The major source of the actuator drive is the LC flows induced by the applied electric fields, and thus this chapter begins with the reviews of the experimental and theoretical aspects of the backflow effect of LCs between parallel plates. Then, the experimental and simulation results on the actuator drive under the pulsed electric fields are presented and the effects of the electric field on the driving performance of the LC actuator are considered. These results suggest that the LC materials have the potential of application to MEMS devices.

Chapter Contents:

• 18.1 Introduction
• 18.2 Backflow effect of nematic LCs
• 18.2.1 Visualisation of backflow
• 18.2.2 Continuum simulation of backflow
• 18.2.3 Molecular dynamics simulation of backflow
• 18.3 Development of LC actuators
• 18.3.1 Experiment
• 18.3.2 Numerical simulation
• 18.4 Conclusions
• References

Inspec keywords: electric fields; nematic liquid crystals; microactuators

Other keywords: pulsed electric fields; liquid crystals; driving performance; microactuators; MEMS devices; LC actuator; applied electric fields; LC materials; electric field; parallel plates; actuator drive; backflow effect

Subjects: Display materials; Design and modelling of MEMS and NEMS devices; Fabrication of MEMS and NEMS devices