Abstract
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.
Highlights
Digital-to-analog converters (DACs), which output electric voltage signals on the basis of binary digital inputs, are widely-used electronic components for numerous applications
We demonstrate that the proposed microelectromechanical digital-to-analog converter (M-DAC)
We demonstrate the application of the M-DAC device in an optical surface profiling system
Summary
Digital-to-analog converters (DACs), which output electric voltage signals on the basis of binary digital inputs, are widely-used electronic components for numerous applications. During the past few decades, various microdevices that generate mechanical outputs according to binary input signals have been proposed. These devices can be classified into two types based on the outputs. Zhou et al [3] presented a torsional M-DAC mechanism comprising a rigid platform, an array of torsional microactuators and a set of connection beams that connect the actuators to the platform for generating torsional motions. M-DAC devices equipped with thermal actuators have not been demonstrated for practical applications, such as optical communication, RF communication and optical measurement, that require components with high precision positioning. Because the Young’s modulus of parylene-C is considerably lower than that of silicon [12], the electrostatic actuators in the proposed device require considerably lower actuation voltages. The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Sections 2 presents the M-DAC design; Sections 3 explains the device fabrication processes; Section 4 contains the measurement results and discussions; and Section 5 presents the conclusion
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