Bidirectional, out-of-plane, comb drive accelerometer
First Claim
1. An out-of-plane electrostatic comb drive accelerometer comprising:
- a proof mass;
a single material layer comprising;
a first plurality of rotor comb tines located at an edge of the proof mass;
a first plurality of stator comb tines interleaved with the plurality of rotor comb tines; and
a second plurality of stator comb tines interleaved with the plurality of rotor comb tines, wherein the first and second pluralities of stator comb tines are electrically isolated from one another,wherein the first plurality of stator comb tines are located in a first plane and the second plurality of stator comb tines are located in a second plane, wherein the first and second planes are not the same.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A bi-directional, out-of-plane electrostatic comb drive apparatus including two electrically independent sets of stator comb tines; and a method for fabricating an out-of-plane comb drive with stacked sets of stator comb tines. A first set of stator comb tines is offset from a second set of stator comb tines. A set of rotor comb tines interleaves with both sets of stator comb tines. A first voltage applied to the first set of stator comb tines operates to pull the rotor tines toward the first set of stator comb tines. A second voltage applied to the second set of stator comb tines operates to pull the rotor tines toward the second set of stator comb tines, enabling bi-directional operation. A fabrication method is disclosed that enables fabrication of the first and second sets of stator comb tines that are mechanically and electrically independent and interleaved by the rotor comb tines.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. An out-of-plane electrostatic comb drive accelerometer comprising:
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a proof mass; a single material layer comprising; a first plurality of rotor comb tines located at an edge of the proof mass; a first plurality of stator comb tines interleaved with the plurality of rotor comb tines; and a second plurality of stator comb tines interleaved with the plurality of rotor comb tines, wherein the first and second pluralities of stator comb tines are electrically isolated from one another, wherein the first plurality of stator comb tines are located in a first plane and the second plurality of stator comb tines are located in a second plane, wherein the first and second planes are not the same. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification