Electromechanical bending microactuator as optical shutter

Abstract

This paper presents the design, fabrication methods and characterization of a thin film electromechanical optical shutter. The overlap of the optical channel 1.4 mm high is provided by a multilayer film structure of the cantilever, which profile is determined by the residual internal stresses of the films. In the process of design analysis, the actual parameters of the strained structural layers, the temperature dependence of the curvature, the undamped natural frequencies and the damping parameters of the film cantilever were determined. Correlation of the data shows that the experimental results fit the theoretical data sufficiently closely. The developed control circuit is designed to compensate for the induced dielectric polarization and prevent the control voltage rise and the cantilever sticking effect. The design presented in this publication enables development of a simple and effective electromechanical optical shutter having interruption aperture height which exceeds 1.4mm.