ELECTROMECHANICAL DYNAMIC FORCE PROFILE ARTICULATING MECHANISM
An electromechanical dynamic force profile articulating mechanism for recovering or emulating true parallel plate capacitor actuation behaviors from deformable membranes used in MEMS systems. The curved deformation of flexible membranes causes their MEMS behavior to deviate from known interactions between rigid plates that maintain geometric parallelism during ponderomotive actuation. The present invention teaches three methods for reacquiring parallel plate behavior: superaddition or in situ integration of a rigid region within or upon the deformable MEMS membrane; creation of isodyne regions to secure parallelism by altering the force profile upon the membrane by introducing tuned and shaped voids within the conductive region associated with the membrane; and a hybrid composite approach wherein the conductive region is deposited atter deposition of a raised rigid zone, thereby emulating isodyne behavior due to the increased inter-conductor distance in the vicinity of the rigid zone, in conjunction with rigidity benefits stemming directly from said zone.
1 . An Apparatus, comprising:
a first conductor receiving selective a first charge;
a second conductor receiving a selective second charge; and
a rigidizing element coupled to the second conductor, wherein applying an electric potential difference between the first and second conductor causes the second conductor to deform towards the first conductor.