Low-voltage closed loop MEMS actuators

Demonstrating sub-nm closed loop MEMS flattening.

Ground based high-contrast imaging (e.g. extrasolar giant planet detection) has demanding wavefront control requirements two orders of magnitude more precise than standard adaptive optics systems. We demonstrate that these requirements can be achieved with a 1024-Micro-Electrical-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) deformable mirror having an actuator spacing of 340 microm and a stroke of approximately 1...

Low Voltage Mems Analog Micromirror Arrays with Hidden Vertical Comb-drive Actuators

We report on a novel, polysilicon surface-micromachined one-dimensional (1-D) analog micromirror array. Large continuous DC scan angle (23.6° optical) and low operating voltage (6V) have been achieved using vertical comb-drive actuators. The actuators and torsion springs are placed underneath the mirror (137 × 120 μm) to achieve high fill-factor (91%). The measured resonant frequency of the mir...

Printing low-voltage dielectric elastomer actuators

Closed-Loop Compensation of the Quadrature Error in MEMS Vibratory Gyroscopes

In this paper, a simple but effective method for compensation of the quadrature error in MEMS vibratory gyroscope is provided. The proposed method does not require any change in the sensor structure, or additional circuit in the feedback path. The mathematical relations of the proposed feedback readout system were analyzed and the proposed solution assures good rejection capabilities. Based on ...

Self-sensing dielectric elastomer actuators in closed-loop operation

Because of their large output strain, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have been proposed for tunable optics applications such as tunable gratings. However, the inherent viscoelastic drift of these actuators is an important drawback and closed-loop operation of DEAs is a prerequisite for any accurate real-world application. In this paper, we show how capacitive self-sensing can be used to ...