Micromirror device with reversibly adjustable properties

Author

Bochobza-Degani, Ofir ; Elata, David ; Nemirovsky, Yael

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Technion-Israel Inst. of Technol., Haifa, Israel

Volume

15

Issue

5

fYear

2003

fDate

5/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

733

Lastpage

735

Abstract

In this letter, a novel adjustable micromirror device using multiple electrodes is presented. The novel design allows post fabrication continuous and reversible adjustment of the electromechanical response and pull-in instability. This property is demonstrated on a fabricated device and is used for analog adjustment of the stable angular travel range of the micromirror. In addition, the inherent properties of the device enable simple duty cycle modulation of the dynamic response that can be used for gray-scale control. These properties are in contrast to prevalent torsion actuators in which the angular travel range and pull-in instability are set and cannot be changed once the device is fabricated.

Keywords

dynamic response; electrostatic actuators; microelectrodes; micromirrors; analog adjustment; dynamic response duty cycle modulation; electromechanical response; gray-scale control; micromachined electrostatic micromirror; micromirror device; multiple electrodes; post fabrication continuous reversible adjustment; pull-in instability; reversibly adjustable properties; stable angular travel range; Actuators; Displays; Electrodes; Electrostatics; Fabrication; Gray-scale; Microelectromechanical systems; Micromechanical devices; Micromirrors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2003.809976

Filename

1196152