Rotational type of MEMS electrostatic actuator
First Claim
1. A MEMS actuator, comprising:
- a combdrive carried by a substrate, the combdrive having a fixed comb and a movable comb, each of the fixed comb and the movable comb having comb fingers, the fixed comb being immovably carried by the substrate and the movable comb being carried by a carrier body;
a resilient body comprising a first part attached between a first anchor point on the substrate and a first side of the carrier body and a second part attached between a second anchor point and a second side of the carrier body, the first part extending toward the second anchor point relative to the first anchor point and the second part extends toward the first anchor point relative to the second anchor point such that the carrier body is supported by the resilient body between the first anchor point and the second anchor, each of the first and second parts of the resilient body comprises first and second beams, the first and second beams being separated by a spacing that decreases as the first and second beams extend toward the carrier body from the respective anchor point, each of the first and second parts of the resilient body being attached at a first end and on opposite sides of the movable comb and permitting cantilevered, pivotal movement of the movable comb parallel to a plane defined by the comb fingers of the fixed comb in response to an actuating voltage applied to the combdrive, the comb fingers of the fixed and movable combs being curved in the direction of the movement.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A cantilever type of electrostatic vertical combdrive actuators may generate larger actuator displacement (typically over 70 um) with a relatively small and simple structure. The actuation voltage is lower while the actuation movement is robust without any typical sideway finger snapping phenomena due to a cantilever type of structure. Because of its small form factor, it can form a high fill factor array in applications such as lower power consumption display devices, sensitive electromagnetic radiation detector/detector arrays, etc. The MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) electrostatic rotational actuators may have wide applications such as in optical shutter, optical chopper, optical switches, optical attenuators, optical tunable filter, RF shunt switch, RF ohmic contact switch, RF MEMS variable capacitors, MEMS display and sensitive electromagnetic radiation detector etc.
-
Citations
39 Claims
-
1. A MEMS actuator, comprising:
-
a combdrive carried by a substrate, the combdrive having a fixed comb and a movable comb, each of the fixed comb and the movable comb having comb fingers, the fixed comb being immovably carried by the substrate and the movable comb being carried by a carrier body; a resilient body comprising a first part attached between a first anchor point on the substrate and a first side of the carrier body and a second part attached between a second anchor point and a second side of the carrier body, the first part extending toward the second anchor point relative to the first anchor point and the second part extends toward the first anchor point relative to the second anchor point such that the carrier body is supported by the resilient body between the first anchor point and the second anchor, each of the first and second parts of the resilient body comprises first and second beams, the first and second beams being separated by a spacing that decreases as the first and second beams extend toward the carrier body from the respective anchor point, each of the first and second parts of the resilient body being attached at a first end and on opposite sides of the movable comb and permitting cantilevered, pivotal movement of the movable comb parallel to a plane defined by the comb fingers of the fixed comb in response to an actuating voltage applied to the combdrive, the comb fingers of the fixed and movable combs being curved in the direction of the movement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 32, 33)
-
-
22. A variable capacitor, comprising:
-
a combdrive carried by a substrate, the combdrive having a first electrode comprising a fixed comb and a second electrode comprising a movable comb, each of the fixed comb and the movable comb having comb fingers, the fixed comb being immovably carried by the substrate and the movable comb being carried by a carrier body; a resilient body comprising a first part attached between a first anchor point on the substrate and a first side of the carrier body and a second part attached between a second anchor point and a second side of the carrier body, the first part extending toward the second anchor point relative to the first anchor point and the second part extends toward the first anchor point relative to the second anchor point such that the carrier body is supported by the resilient body between the first anchor point and the second anchor point, each of the first and second parts of the resilient body comprises first and second beams, the first and second beams being separated by a spacing that decreases as the first and second beams extend toward the carrier body from the respective anchor point, each of the first and second parts of the resilient body being attached at a first end of the movable comb and permitting cantilevered, pivotal movement of the movable comb parallel to a plane defined by the comb fingers of the fixed comb in response to an actuating voltage applied to the combdrive, the comb fingers of the fixed and movable combs being curved in the direction of the movement. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 35, 36)
-
-
28. An array of MEMS actuators mounted to a substrate, each MEMS actuator comprising:
-
a combdrive carried by a substrate, the combdrive having a fixed comb and a movable comb, each of the fixed comb and the movable comb having comb fingers, the fixed comb being immovably carried by the substrate; a resilient body comprising a first part attached between a first anchor point on the substrate and a first side of the movable comb and a second part attached between a second anchor point and a second side of the movable comb, the first part extending toward the second anchor point relative to the first anchor point and the second part extends toward the first anchor point relative to the second anchor point such that the movable comb is supported by the resilient body between the first anchor point and the second anchor point, each of the first and second parts of the resilient body comprises first and second beams, the first and second beams being separated by a spacing that decreases as the first and second beams extend toward the movable comb from the respective anchor point, each of the first and second parts of the resilient body being attached at a first end of the movable comb and permitting cantilevered, pivotal movement of the movable comb parallel to a plane defined by the comb fingers of the fixed comb in response to an actuating voltage applied to the combdrive, the comb fingers of the fixed and movable combs being curved in the direction of the movement. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 37, 38, 39)
-
Specification