NiFe Plated Biaxial MEMS Scanner for 2-D Imaging

A two-axis microelectromechanical systems micromirror actuator is developed for retinal scanning display and imaging applications. The device operation makes use of magnetostatic torque produced by the combination of a flux generating custom-made high-frequency electrocoil and the NiFe layer deposited on the movable part. Modeling of the actuation in the magnetic domain, as well as the experimental characterization of the mechanical part is described. The device is capable of full optical scan angles of 88deg (at 100-mA root-mean-square coil current) and 1.8deg for slow and fast-scan directions, respectively. In combination with a mirror size of 1.5 mm, resulting thetas_optmiddotD products are 132degmiddotmm and 2.7degmiddotmm for slow and fast axis, respectively. Atmospheric operation of the device is enabled due to high mechanical quality factors of the order of 3000