Microelectromechanical systems device and method for fabricating same
First Claim
1. A microelectromechanical systems device comprising:
- a plurality of elements each having at least two layers, the layers being disposed in a stacked relationship with a gap therebetween when the element is in an undriven state, the plurality of elements being of at least two different types, each type differing in a height of its gap; and
a driving mechanism to drive the plurality of elements to a driven state, wherein one of the layers of each element is electrostatically displaced relative to the other layer to close the gap between the layers, and wherein a minimum voltage required to actuate the driving mechanism is substantially different for each type of element.
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Abstract
One aspect of the invention provides a method for fabricating a microelectromechanical systems device. The method comprises fabricating an array of first elements, each first element conforming to a first geometry; fabricating at least one array of second elements, each second element conforming to a second geometry; wherein fabricating the arrays comprises selecting a defining aspect of each of the first and second geometries based on a defining characteristic of each of the first and second elements; and normalizing differences in an actuation voltage required to actuate each of the first and second elements, wherein the differences are as a result of the selected defining aspect, the defining characteristic of each of the elements being unchanged.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A microelectromechanical systems device comprising:
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a plurality of elements each having at least two layers, the layers being disposed in a stacked relationship with a gap therebetween when the element is in an undriven state, the plurality of elements being of at least two different types, each type differing in a height of its gap; and
a driving mechanism to drive the plurality of elements to a driven state, wherein one of the layers of each element is electrostatically displaced relative to the other layer to close the gap between the layers, and wherein a minimum voltage required to actuate the driving mechanism is substantially different for each type of element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for fabricating a microelectromechanical systems device comprising:
constructing an array of elements, each element having a first layer, a second layer spaced from the first layer by a gap when in an undriven state, and an electrode layer to electrostatically drive the second layer to contact the first layer corresponding to a driven state when energized, the elements being of at least two different types, each type differing in a height of its gap, wherein said constructing includes changing a configuration of each element type to compensate for differences in a voltage required to drive each element to its driven state. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A microelectromechanical systems device comprising:
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a plurality of elements, each element having a first layer, a second layer spaced from the first layer by a gap when in an undriven state, and an electrode layer to electrostatically drive the second layer to contact the first layer corresponding to a driven state when energized, the elements being of at least two different kinds, each kind differing in a height of its gap; and
an element driving mechanism comprising an integrated drive circuit having multilevel outputs to energize the electrode layer of each element to cause the element to change from its undriven state to its driven state.
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30. A method for fabricating a microelectromechanical systems device, the method comprising:
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fabricating an array of first elements, each first element conforming to a first geometry;
fabricating at least one array of second elements, each second element conforming to a second geometry;
whereinfabricating the arrays comprises selecting a defining aspect of each of the first and second geometries based on a defining characteristic of each of the first and second elements; and
normalizing differences in an actuation voltage required to actuate each of the first and second elements, wherein the differences are as a result of the selected defining aspect, the defining characteristic of each of the elements being unchanged. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification