An optical device includes a support portion a movable unit and a pair of torsion bars disposed on both sides of the movable unit on a first axis. The movable unit includes a main body portion, a ring-shaped portion surrounding the main body portion when viewed from a predetermined direction perpendicular to the first axis, two connection portions connecting the main body portion and the ring-shaped portion to each other, and a rib portion provided to the main body portion. Each of the two connection portions includes two connection regions that are separated from each other by a space and the each of the two connection region connects the main body portion and the ring-shaped portion to each other. The rib portion includes four extending portions radially extending between a center of the main body portion and the four connection regions respectively when viewed from the predetermined direction.

An electrostatic actuator includes a base, a movable electrode including a semiconductor and supported to the base to be displaceable in a first direction, and a fixed electrode including the semiconductor and fixed to the base, in which the fixed electrode faces the movable electrode in a state of being separated therefrom in the first direction. The electrostatic actuator includes a high-resistance region formed in at least a portion of each of respective facing surfaces of the movable electrode and the fixed electrode, and lower in impurity concentration than a surrounding region thereof.

A displacement device for pivoting a mirror element with two degrees of freedom of pivoting includes an electrode structure including actuator electrodes. The actuator electrodes are comb electrodes. All actuator electrodes are arranged in a single plane. The actuator electrodes form a direct drive for pivoting the mirror element.

In an example, a method includes interacting electric fields from charges in conductors in different inertial reference frames to effect motion. The example method implements the mathematical framework that divides electric fields from charges in different inertial reference frames into separate electric field equations in electrically isolated conductors. The example method may implement the interaction of these electric fields to produce a force on an assembly that can, by way of illustration, propel a spacecraft using electricity without other propellant(s).

Caging structures are disclosed for caging or otherwise reducing the mechanical shock pulse experienced by MEMS device beam structures during events that may cause mechanical shock to the MEMS device. The caging structures at least partially surround the beam such that they limit the motion of the beam in a direction perpendicular to the beam's longitudinal axis, thereby reducing stress on the beam during a mechanical shock event. The caging structures may be used in combination with mechanical shock-resistant beams.

A comb drive for MEMS device includes a stator and a rotor displaceable relative to the stator in a first direction. The stator includes stator comb fingers and the rotor includes rotor comb fingers. The stator comb fingers are coupled to two high impedance nodes to form high impedance node domains arranged in the first direction. The rotor comb fingers are coupled to two oppositely biased electrodes to form oppositely biased domains. Pairs of capacitors with opposite acoustic polarity are respectively formed between the high impedance node domains and the oppositely biased domains. The comb drive of the present invention has increased electrostatic sensitivity for a given unit cell cross-sectional area whilst maintaining an acceptable capacitance and linearity of voltage signal vs displacement. Extra force shim unit cells may be used, which allows for the stiffness between the rotor and stator to be controlled and reduced to zero for a particular displacement range, without impacting sensitivity.

An actuator for moving a platform having electrical connections is provided. The actuator includes an outer frame connected to an inner frame by one or more spring elements that are electrically conductive. The actuator further includes one or more comb drive actuators that apply a controlled force between the outer frame and the inner frame. Each of the comb drive actuators includes one or more comb drives. Moreover, a method for moving a platform having electrical connections is also provided. The method includes connecting an outer frame to an inner frame using one or more spring elements that are electrically conductive. The method further includes generating a controlled force using one or more comb drive actuators. Each of the comb drive actuators includes one or more comb drives. In addition, the method includes applying the controlled force between the outer frame and the inner frame.

Systems and apparatuses are provided for increasing the possible force and/or travel generated in MEMS devices. For example, comb fingers may be utilized to form a strain actuator to generate larger forces. As another example, the force advantage of a parallel plate actuator is leveraged while also leveraging the travel advantage of comb drives to increase force and/or travel capable of being generated. The systems and apparatuses disclosed may utilize one or more comb drives operationally attached to one or more flexures and/or frames.

A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device may be provided with one or more sintered electrical contacts. The MEMS device may be a MEMS actuator or a MEMS sensor. The sintered electrical contacts may be silver-paste metalized electrical contacts. The sintered electrical contacts may be formed by depositing a sintering material such as a metal paste, a metal preform, a metal ink, or a metal powder on a wafer of released MEMS devices and heating the wafer so that the deposited sintering material diffuses into a substrate of the device, thereby making electrical contact with the device. The deposited sintering material may break through an insulating layer on the substrate during the sintering process. The MEMS device may be a multiple degree of freedom actuator having first and second MEMS actuators that facilitate autofocus, zoom, and optical image stabilization for a camera.

A MEMS self-aligned high-and-low comb tooth and manufacturing method thereof, the comb tooth having a lifting structure, the lifting structure generating a displacement in the vertical direction to drive the movement of a movable comb tooth or a fixed comb tooth attached thereto. The manufacturing method thereof adopts a silicon wafer, the lifting structure and the comb tooth are sequentially formed on a mechanical structure layer, the fixed comb tooth and the movable comb tooth are formed with the same etching process, and the stress in the lifting structure displaces the fixed comb tooth and the movable comb tooth in the vertical direction, thus forming the self-aligned high-and-low comb tooth.