Content of the lecture are various actuator principles and their implementation in MEMS devices. The corresponding impact on the device performance is presented and discussed, including scaling effects. The focus is on physical principles (e.g. electrostatic, magnetic and piezoelectric) as well as unconventional effects such as shape-memory alloys. Furthermore, basics of microfluidics are introduced for micromachined actuators operated in fluidic environments such as valves.
