Design of a novel MEMS microgripper with rotatory electrostatic comb-drive actuators for biomedical applications

Primary tumors of patients can release circulating tumor cells (CTCs) to flow inside of their blood. The CTCs have different mechanical properties in comparison with red and white blood cells, and their detection may be employed to study the efficiency of medical treatments against cancer. We present the design of a novel MEMS microgripper with rotatory electrostatic comb-drive actuators for mechanical properties characterization of cells. The microgripper has a compact structural configuration of four polysilicon layers and a simple performance that control the opening and closing displacements of the microgripper tips. The microgripper has a mobile arm, a fixed arm, two different actuators and two serpentine springs, which are designed based on the SUMMiT V surface micromachining process from Sandia National Laboratories. The proposed microgripper operates at its first rotational resonant frequency and its mobile arm has a controlled displacement of 40 μm at both opening and closing directions using dc and ac bias voltages. Analytical models are developed to predict the stiffness, damping forces and first torsional resonant frequency of the microgripper. In addition, finite element method (FEM) models are obtained to estimate the mechanical behavior of the microgripper. The results of the analytical models agree very well respect to FEM simulations. The microgripper has a first rotational resonant frequency of 463.8 Hz without gripped cell and it can operate up to with maximum dc and ac voltages of 23.4 V and 129.2 V, respectively. Based on the results of the analytical and FEM models about the performance of the proposed microgripper, it could be used as a dispositive for mechanical properties characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs).