A MEMS actuator includes a coil stack in the form of microfabricated,
electrically conductive first and second superposed layers. A magnet
array is superposed in magnetic communication with the coil stack, with
first and second coils being selectively, electrically actuatable to
generate relative movement between the coil stack and the magnet array
both in-plane and out-of-plane. In various embodiments, a plurality of
the actuators are integrally coupled to a microfabricated compliant
mechanism to provide a high bandwidth, six degree of freedom
nanopositioner.