Micro-electromechanical device

• US 7,755,454 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2006
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tanaka, Masahiro, Kinoshita, Takashi, Yamashita, Keitaro
• Primary Examiner(s): Takaoka; Dean O
• Application Number:
  US12/095,089
• Publication Number:
  US 20090039979A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,343 Days
• Field of Search: 333/186, 333/197, 333/198, 310/330
• US Class Current: 333/186
• CPC Class Codes: H02N 1/006 of the gap-closing type H02N1/004 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 9/2426 in combination with other electronic elements
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 9/2463 Clamped-clamped beam resonators
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 9/525 for microelectro-mechanical filters

Abstract

Provided is a micro-electromechanical device capable of processing an electric signal in the high frequency region by a simple device structure. The micro-electromechanical device is formed, including an oscillator element having a plurality of electrodes disposed on a substrate and a beam facing the electrodes to oscillate by electrostatic drive. An input/output of a high frequency signal is applied to one of the combinations of the electrodes and the beam.

Claims

1. A micro-electromechanical device, comprising:

an oscillator element including;

a plurality of electrodes formed on a substrate; and

a beam facing the electrodes and configured to oscillate by means of an electrostatic drive,

wherein,

when a high frequency signal is applied to one of the plurality of electrodes, and a reference signal is applied to the beam, an output signal is output from another one of the plurality of electrodes, the output signal having a differential frequency between the high frequency signal and the reference signal.

2. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 1 characterized in that a plurality of the oscillator elements are connected in parallel with respect to the high frequency signal input to the oscillator elements.

3. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 2 characterized in that resonance frequencies of the plurality of the oscillator elements connected in parallel are distributed throughout a required frequency range.

4. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 1 characterized in that two or more input electrodes facing the beam and driving the beam are included.

5. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 2 characterized in that two or more input electrodes facing the beam and driving the beam are included.

6. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 3 characterized in that two or more input electrodes facing the beam and driving the beam are included.

7. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 1 characterized in that two or more output electrodes facing the beam and deriving an output from the beam are included.

8. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 2 characterized in that two or more output electrodes facing the beam and deriving an output from the beam are included.

9. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 3 characterized in that two or more output electrodes facing the beam and deriving an output from the beam are included.

10. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 1, wherein the reference signal is another high frequency signal.

11. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 1 characterized in that one or more oscillator elements of a second electrostatic drive type are added to an output side of the oscillator element.

12. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 1 characterized in that the micro-electromechanical device is configured as a signal mixer-filter.

13. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 11 characterized in that the micro-electromechanical device is configured as a signal mixer-filter.

14. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 12 including:

a capacitor between an alternating-current signal input/output terminal and either the electrode or the beam so that the signal mixer-filter is configured to transit a signal.

15. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 13 including:

a capacitor between an alternating-current signal input/output terminal and either the electrode or the beam so that the signal mixer-filter is configured to transit a signal.

16. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 12 characterized in that the signal mixer-filter is configured to handle balanced input/output signals.

17. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 13 characterized in that the signal mixer-filter is configured to handle balanced input/output signals.

18. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 12 characterized in that the signal mixer-filter includes a plurality of resonators connected in a lattice-like fashion so as to handle balanced input/output signals.

19. The micro-electromechanical device according to claim 13 characterized in that the signal mixer-filter includes a plurality of resonators connected in a lattice-like fashion so as to handle balanced input/output signals.

20. A micro-electromechanical device, comprising:

an oscillator element;

the oscillator element including

a plurality of electrodes formed on a substrate; and

a beam facing the electrodes and configured to oscillate by means of electrostatic drive,

characterized in that an input/output of a high frequency signal is applied to one of combinations of the plurality of electrodes and the beam, and

characterized in that portions of the beam, exclusive of portions facing the electrodes and portions serving as wiring for applying a bias voltage and for transmitting signals, are formed of an insulator.