An actuator comprising two devices each comprising an out-of-plane deformable element, said deformable element comprising a first fixed end anchored on a substrate and a second free end relative to the substrate, said device also comprising means to guide the second free end in in-plane translation along a first direction, the first deformable element being capable of deforming out-of-plane through application of a stimulus so that the second free end draws close to the first fixed end following in-plane translational movement. The actuator also comprises an element mobile in rotation about an axis orthogonal to the plane and mechanically linked to the free ends of the deformable elements, and a translationally mobile element mechanically linked to the rotationally mobile element.

Sensors, systems, and methods for monitoring environmental conditions, such as physical, electromagnetic, thermal, and/or chemical parameters within an environment, over extended periods of time with the use of one or more electromechanical sensing devices and electronic circuitry for processing an output of the sensing devices. The sensing devices each include a cantilevered structure and at least one contact configured for contact-mode operation with the cantilevered structure in response to the cantilevered structure deflecting toward or away from the contact when exposed to the parameter of interest. The cantilevered structure has at least first and second beams of dissimilar materials, at least one of which has at least one property that changes as a result of exposure to the parameter.

A microelectromechanical resonant switch (resoswitch) converts received radio frequency (RF) energy into a clock output. The resoswitch first accepts incoming amplitude- or frequency-shift keyed clock-modulated RF energy at a carrier frequency, filters it, provides power gain via resonant impact switching, and finally envelop detects impact impulses to demodulate and recover the carrier clock waveform. The resulting output derives from the clock signal that originally modulated the RF carrier, resulting in a local clock that shares its originator's accuracy. A bare push-pull 1-kHz RF-powered mechanical clock generator driving an on-chip inverter gate capacitance of 5 fF can potentially operate with only 5 pW of battery power, 200,000 times lower than a typical real-time clock. Using an off-chip inverter with 17.5 pF of effective capacitance, a 1-kHz push-pull resonator would consume 17.5 nW.

A microelectromechanical resonant switch (resoswitch) converts received radio frequency (RF) energy into an output signal with zero quiescent power usage by using a resonant element with a passband input sensitivity of: <60 dBm, <68 dBm, and <100 dBm. The resoswitch first accepts incoming amplitude- or frequency-shift keyed RF energy at a carrier frequency, filters it, provides power gain via resonant impact switching, and finally envelop detects impact impulses to demodulate and recover the modulating waveform. Mechanical gain may be used to amplify received signals, whose amplitudes may be binned, thereby preserving use of amplitude modulated (AM) signals. A second resoswitch may be used to control additional circuitry, whereby the first resoswitch detects a control signal output to the additional circuitry.

A switch includes an input contact and an output contact to a conducting channel. At least one of the input and output contacts is capacitively coupled to the conducting channel. A control contact is located outside of a region between the input and output contacts, and can be used to adjust the switch between on and off operating states. The switch can be implemented as a radio frequency switch in a circuit.

Embodiments of switches (10) include first and second electrical conductors (34, 36) suspended within an electrically-conductive housing (28), and a contact element (16) having an electrically-conductive portion (53b) that establishes electrical contact between the first and second electrical conductors (34, 36) when the contact element (16) is in a closed position. The electrically-conductive portion (53b) is electrically isolated from a ground plane (27) of the switch (10) by adjacent electrically-insulative portions (53a, 53c) of the contact element (16).

A electromechanical relay device (100) comprising a source electrode (102), a beam (104) mounted on the source electrode at a first end and electrically coupled to the source electrode; a first drain electrode (112) located adjacent a second end of the beam, wherein a first contact (110) on the beam is arranged to be separated from a second contact (112) on the first drain electrode when the relay device is in a first condition; a first gate electrode (106 arranged to cause the beam to deflect, to electrically couple the first contact and the second contact such that the device is in a second condition; and wherein the first and second contacts are each coated with a layer of nanocrystalline graphite.

The present disclosure generally relates to a MEMS device for reducing ESD. A contacting switch is used to ensure that there is a closed electrical contact between two electrodes even if there is no applied bias voltage.

According to various embodiments, there is provided a micro-electromechanical resonator, including a substrate with a cavity therein; and a resonating structure suspended over the cavity, the resonating structure having a first end anchored to the substrate, wherein the resonating structure is configured to flex in a flexural mode along a width direction of the resonating structure, wherein the width direction is defined at least substantially perpendicular to a length direction of the resonating structure, wherein the length direction is defined from the first end to a second end of the resonating structure, wherein the second end opposes the first end.

Deep via technology is used to construct an integrated silicon cantilever and cavity oriented in a vertical plane which creates an electrostatically-switched MEMS switch in a small wafer area. Another embodiment is a small wafer area electrostatically-switched, vertical-cantilever MEMS switch wherein the switch cavity is etched within a volume defined by walls grown internally within a silicon substrate using through vias.