John Walton, Robert Lake and LaVern Starman
Air Force Institute of Technology, Ohio, United States
Keywords: Bimorph, electrostatic, MEMS
This research focused on improving the control and sensing of electrostatically actuated, large deflection bimorph beams for optical beam steering. These structures are an important foundational device component in the field of MEMS. However, the precise control and experimental deflection measurements can be difficult to achieve. Through using segmented bias channels of doped polysilicon, modeling shows it is possible to control different segments of the actuation arm, thus controlling the amount of tip, tilt, or piston deflection. This paper discusses current and future designs, along with test procedures and results.