Low-Actuation Voltage MEMS Digital-to-Analog Converter with Parylene Spring Structures

Sensors

Cheng-Wen Ma²  Fu-Wei Lee²  Hsin-Hung Liao²  Wen-Cheng Kuo¹  Yao-Joe Yang² 

[1] Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering and Graduate Institute of Industrial Design, National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, Kaoshiung 824, Taiwan; E-Mail:;Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan; E-Mails:

关键词: microelectromechanical systems;    digital-to-analog converter;    parylene;    electrostatic microactuators;    white-light interferometry;    micromirror;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s150921567

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

We propose an electrostatically-actuated microelectromechanical digital-to-analog converter (M-DAC) device with low actuation voltage. The spring structures of the silicon-based M-DAC device were monolithically fabricated using parylene-C. Because the Young’s modulus of parylene-C is considerably lower than that of silicon, the electrostatic microactuators in the proposed device require much lower actuation voltages. The actuation voltage of the proposed M-DAC device is approximately 6 V, which is less than one half of the actuation voltages of a previously reported M-DAC equipped with electrostatic microactuators. The measured total displacement of the proposed three-bit M-DAC is nearly 504 nm, and the motion step is approximately 72 nm. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the M-DAC can be employed as a mirror platform with discrete displacement output for a noncontact surface profiling system.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.