Dynamics of polysilicon parallel-plate electrostatic actuators

✍ Scribed by Patrick B. Chu; Phyllis R. Nelson; Mark L. Tachiki; Kristofer S.J. Pister

• Book ID: 103959851
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 585 KB
• Volume: 52
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0924-4247
• DOI: 10.1016/0924-4247(96)80152-x

✦ Synopsis

The response of a polysilicon parallel-plate electrostatic actuator to a.c. signals at different bias voltages has been measured with a laser interferometer. Using microhinges, large plates (with areas from 100 "am 2 to = 0.1 mm 2) with long thin support beams (such as 600 ~m X 3 ,am × 1.5 ,am) are rotated off the surface of the substrate to form a parallel-plate capacitor. Fabricated structures having 100 #m gaps can be closed electrostatically with voltages as low as 50 V. This new actuator is estimated to output a force of up to 50 "aN. With the exception of the resonant Q-value, the experimental results are in good agreement with simulations based on a simple nonlinear model for the actuator.