Abstract
A magnetic actuator consisting of a 70 × 0:525 × 1 μm 3 silicon oxide microcantilever and a 70 × 5 × 1 μm 3 silicon oxide plate deposited on a 50 × 1 × 0:09 μm 3 ferromagnetic thin film is successfully fabricated using electron beam lithography and electron beam evaporation, and placed in various magnetic fields to observe its flexure. The magnetic actuator is bent using a magnetic torque produced by a ferromagnetic thin film under an external magnetic field owing to the fabrication of a highly sensitive microcantilever and the design of a high magnetic shape anisotropy. In this study, the magnetic actuator is placed in three magnetic field directions to investigate its diversity of deflections; the angles between the easy axis of the ferromagnetic thin film and the direction of the external magnetic field are 90, 80, and 45°. © 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.