Title :
Electrostatically balanced comb drive for controlled levitation
Author :
Tang, William C. ; Lim, Martin G. ; Howe, Roger T.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA
Abstract :
An experimental study of the levitation force, normal to the substrate, associated with interdigital capacitor electrostatic comb lateral actuators is reported. For compliant suspensions, normal displacements of over 2 mu m for a comb bias of 30 V were observed. This phenomenon is due to electrostatic repulsion by image charges mirrored in the ground plane beneath the suspended structure. By electrically isolating alternating drive-comb fingers and applying voltages of equal magnitude and opposite sign, levitation can be reduced by an order of magnitude while reducing the lateral drive force by less than a factor of two.<>
Keywords :
electric actuators; electrostatic devices; micromechanical devices; 30 V; comb bias; compliant suspensions; controlled levitation; drive-comb fingers; electrostatic repulsion; image charges; interdigital capacitor electrostatic comb lateral actuators; lateral drive force; levitation force; Drives; Electrostatic actuators; Electrostatic levitation; Fingers; Force control; Resonance; Substrates; Suspensions; Vibrations; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, 1990. 4th Technical Digest., IEEE
Conference_Location :
Hilton Head Island, SC, USA
DOI :
10.1109/SOLSEN.1990.109812
