An optical device includes an elastic support portion which includes a torsion bar which extends along a second direction perpendicular to a first direction and a nonlinearity relaxation spring which is connected between the torsion bar and a movable portion. The nonlinearity relaxation spring is configured so that a deformation amount of the nonlinearity relaxation spring around the second direction is smaller than a deformation amount of the torsion bar around the second direction and a deformation amount of the nonlinearity relaxation spring in a third direction perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction is larger than a deformation amount of the torsion bar in the third direction while the movable portion moves in the first direction. A comb electrode is disposed along an outer edge of the movable portion.

MEMS devices include a suspended element connected to a fixed part of a substrate by one or more flexures, wherein the one or more flexures are configured to permit movement of the suspended element relative to a fixed part of the substrate. An actuator coupled to the suspended element and a damping structure coupled to the suspended element extends into a gap between the suspended element and the fixed part of the substrate. One or more fluid confinement structures are configured to permit movement of the damping structure within a limited portion of the gap and to confine a viscoelastic fluid to the limited portion of the gap.

In an optical device, a base and a movable unit are constituted by a semiconductor substrate including a first semiconductor layer, an insulating layer, and a second semiconductor layer in this order from one side in a predetermined direction. The base is constituted by the first semiconductor layer, the insulating layer, and the second semiconductor layer. The movable unit includes an arrangement portion that is constituted by the second semiconductor layer. The optical function unit is disposed on a surface of the arrangement portion on the one side. The first semiconductor layer that constitutes the base is thicker than the second semiconductor layer that constitutes the base. A surface of the base on the one side is located more to the one side than the optical function unit.

An optical module includes a mirror unit and a beam splitter unit. The mirror unit includes a base with a main surface, a movable mirror, a first fixed mirror, and a drive unit. The beam splitter unit constitutes a first interference optical system for measurement light along with the movable mirror and the first fixed mirror. A mirror surface of the movable mirror and a mirror surface of the first fixed mirror follow a plane parallel to the main surface and face one side in a first direction perpendicular to the main surface. The movable mirror, the drive unit, and at least a part of an optical path between the beam splitter unit and the first fixed mirror are disposed in an airtight space.

A micromechanical device, in particular a micromirror device. The device has at least one first micromechanical component and one second micromechanical component. The first component and the second component are directly or indirectly joined to one another. The first micromechanical component has a first sub-body and at least one second sub-body. The first sub-body extends in a first plane and the second sub-body in a second plane different from the first plane. The first plane and the second plane extend parallel to one another and the first plane extends above the second plane. The second sub-body is arranged in a transitional region to the second micromechanical component. A second extent of the second sub-body in the longitudinal direction is greater than a first extent of the first sub-body in the longitudinal direction.

A mirror unit 2 includes a mirror device 20 including a base 21 and a movable mirror 22, an optical function member 13, and a fixed mirror 16 that is disposed on a side opposite to the mirror device 20 with respect to the optical function member 13. The mirror device 20 is provided with a light passage portion 24 that constitutes a first portion of an optical path between the beam splitter unit 3 and the fixed mirror 16. The optical function member 13 is provided with a light transmitting portion 14 that constitutes a second portion of the optical path between the beam splitter unit 3 and the fixed mirror 16. A second surface 21b of the base 21 and a third surface 13a of the optical function member 13 are joined to each other.

Disclosed is a hinged MEMS and/or NEMS device with out-of-plane movement including a first portion and a second portion that is hinged so as to be able to rotate with respect to the first portion about an axis of rotation contained in a first mean plane of the device. The device also includes a hinging element that connects the first portion and the second portion and that is stressed flexurally and a sensing element that extends between the first portion and the second portion and that deforms during the movement of the second portion. Finally, the device includes two blades that extend perpendicularly to the mean plane of the hinge device and parallel to the axis of rotation, the blades being placed between the hinging element and the sensing element and connecting the first portion and the second portion and being stressed torsionally during the movement of the second portion.

An MMS includes a substrate, an element movable with respect to the substrate and a frame structure. A first pair of springs is arranged between the substrate and the frame structure along a first spring direction. A second pair of springs is arranged between the movable element and the frame structure along a second spring direction. The frame structure is configured to generate tensile stress in the second pair of springs at tensile stress acting in the first pair of springs.

An actuator device includes a support portion, a movable portion, a connection portion which connects the movable portion to the support portion on a second axis, a first wiring which is provided on the connection portion, a second wiring which is provided on the support portion, and an insulation layer which includes a first opening exposing a surface opposite to the support portion in a first connection part located on the support portion in one of the first wiring and the second wiring and covers a corner of the first connection part. The rigidity of a first metal material forming the first wiring is higher than the rigidity of a second metal material forming the second wiring. The other wiring of the first wiring and the second wiring is connected to the surface of the first connection part in the first opening.

A hinge between a support and a movable part in an out-of-plane direction of a microelectromechanical structure includes two torsion beams, and two bending elements connecting the movable part and the support and each comprising two beams extending perpendicularly to the axis of rotation. Each beam is connected to the support by a first end and to the movable part by a second end, the first ends and the second ends of the beams being disposed with respect to one another in such a way that the orientation of the first end towards the second end of one beam is opposite to the orientation of the first end towards the second end of the other beam.