Design, fabrication, and operation of submicron gap comb-drive microactuators

Making submicron interelectrode gaps is the key to reducing the driving voltage of a micro comb-drive electrostatic actuator. Two new fabrication technologies, oxidation machining and a post-release positioning method, are proposed to realize submicron gaps. Two types of actuator (a resonant type and a nonresonant type) with submicron gaps were successfully fabricated and their operational characteristics were tested experimentally. The drive voltage was found to be lower than that of existing actuators. The stability of comb-drive actuators is discussed