Smart power integrated circuit for piezoceramic-based microrobot

Abstract

A BCD technology (Bipolar, CMOS, DMOS) was used to implement a high voltage smart power integrated circuit in order to obtain a fully integrated Smart Piezoactuator Unit (SPU) for a new generation of microrobots. Micropositioning and micromanipulation units have been developed combining properly 6 SPUs. For each SPU four power drivers are needed. To fulfil the restrictions imposed by the desired robot size, the four drives together with their protection circuitry and a control interface based on a serial protocol have been integrated in an ASIC.