A novel continuously variable angular vertical comb-drive with application in scanning micromirror

An angular vertical comb-drive (AVC) with electrically controllable initial comb-offset is presented in the context of a single crystalline silicon scanning micromirror. The electrothermal actuated control of the variable offset is used to investigate the influence of the initial comb offset on the dynamic resonance behavior of the scanning mirror. With possible maximum vertical comb-offsets between 10 μm and 5 μm a higher dynamic mirror scan angle at the mechanical resonance frequency of 6 kHz is found for higher initial offsets. The same behavior of higher scan angles for higher offsets is also shown when mechanically controlling the initial comb-offset including negative offset values and offsets close to 0 μm.