Electrodynamically levitated actuator

1. A microelectromechanical actuator, comprising:

a substrate, having a surface;

an electrostatically displaceable conductive element, suspended over the substrate;

a center electrode, provided on the substrate under the electrostatically displaceable conductive element; and

a peripheral electrode provided on the substrate;

wherein:

the center electrode is larger than a projection of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element on the substrate, and is configured to shield the electrostatically displaceable conductive element from electrostatic forces induced by the peripheral electrode from beneath the electrostatically displaceable conductive element,

the peripheral electrode is configured to exert an electrostatic force normal to the surface of the substrate on the electrostatically displaceable conductive element that repulses the electrostatically displaceable conductive element from the substrate, and

the center electrode is configured to have a voltage different from a voltage on the electrostatically displaceable conductive element, to thereby induce an attractive electrostatic force on the beam.

2. The microelectromechanical actuator according to claim 1 , wherein:

the electrostatically displaceable conductive element comprises a beam having a conductive portion, freely suspended over the substrate, and having a long axis parallel to the surface of the substrate, and being displaceable along an axis normal to the surface of the substrate;

the peripheral electrode comprises a pair of side electrodes, axisymmetric with respect to the beam, provided on the substrate, configured to exert an electrostatic force normal to the surface of the substrate on the beam, that repulses the beam from the substrate, and to exert a balanced electrostatic force on the beam in a plane of the surface of the substrate; and

the center electrode is provided on the substrate under the beam, and is configured to shield the beam from electrostatic forces induced by the side electrodes from beneath the beam,

and to have a voltage different from a voltage on the beam, to thereby induce an attractive electrostatic force on the beam.

3. The microelectromechanical actuator according to claim 2 , wherein the beam has a first state in which the beam is pulled in to the center electrode by the attractive electrostatic force on the beam, and a second state in which the attractive electrostatic force on the beam by the center electrode sufficient to pull in the beam is overcome by the repulsive electrostatic force exerted by the side electrodes.

4. The microelectromechanical actuator according to claim 1 , further comprising a triboelectric generator, configured to induce an electrostatic voltage on the peripheral electrode with respect to the center electrode, to thereby selectively overcome the attractive electrostatic force on the electrostatically displaceable conductive element induced by the center electrode,

wherein the electrostatically displaceable conductive element has a first state in which the electrostatically displaceable conductive element is pulled in to the center electrode by the attractive electrostatic force on the electrostatically displaceable conductive element, and a second state in which the attractive electrostatic force on the electrostatically displaceable conductive element by the center electrode is overcome by the repulsive electrostatic force exerted by the peripheral electrode from activation of the triboelectric generator.

5. The microelectromechanical actuator according to claim 1 , wherein the electrostatically displaceable conductive element has an inertial mass, subject to displacement by inertial forces, and wherein a voltage on at least one of the center electrode and the peripheral electrode with respect to the electrostatically displaceable conductive element is adjusted to control an inertial state which triggers pull-in of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element to the center electrode.

6. A method of actuating a microelectromechanical actuator, comprising:

providing the microelectromechanical actuator comprising:

a substrate having a surface,

a conductive element, suspended over the substrate, and being electrostatically displaceable normal to the surface of the substrate,

a center electrode, larger than a projection of the conductive element on the substrate, and is provided on the substrate under the conductive element, and

a peripheral electrode, provided on the substrate outside the center electrode, wherein the center electrode is configured to selectively shield the conductive element from electrostatic forces induced by the peripheral electrode from beneath the conductive element, and to permit electrostatic forces induced by the peripheral electrode to interact with the conductive element from above the conductive element;

applying an electric potential between the conductive element and the center electrode; and

repulsing the conductive element from the substrate by applying an electric potential between the conductive element and the peripheral electrode.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein:

the conductive beam comprises a beam having a conductive portion, freely suspended over the substrate, and having a long axis parallel to the surface of the substrate, and being displaceable along an axis normal to the surface of the substrate;

the center electrode is provided on the substrate under the beam;

the peripheral electrode comprises a pair of side electrodes, disposed on either side of the center electrode, axisymmetric with respect to the beam and configured to produce an axisymmetric electrostatic force on beam; the center conductive electrode is configured to selectively shield the beam from electrostatic forces induced by the side electrodes from beneath the beam, and not to shield the beam from electrostatic forces induced by the side electrodes from above the beam;

the electric potential between the beam and the center electrode is sufficient to cause pullin; and

the electrostatic force on the beam induced by the pair of side electrodes repulses the beam from the substrate.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the beam is pulled-in to the center electrode by the center electrode by the electric potential between the beam and the center electrode, and the electrostatic force induced on the beam by the pair of side electrodes releases the beam from pull-in.

9. A method, comprising:

providing:

a substrate, having a surface;

an electrostatically displaceable conductive element an electrostatically-repositionable tip suspended over the substrate;

a center electrode, provided on the substrate under the electrostatically displaceable conductive element, and being larger than a projection of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element on the substrate; and

a peripheral electrode provided on the substrate;

displacing the electrostatically-repositionable tip away from the substrate, by applying a non-zero bias voltage potential comprising a electrostatically displaceable conductive element potential between the center electrode and the electrostatically displaceable conductive element, and a peripheral electrode potential which produces a repulsive force normal to the surface of the substrate to levitate the electrostatically displaceable conductive element away from the substrate; and

detecting a displacement of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the peripheral electrode comprises a pair of laterally located electrodes on the substrate that together exert a laterally balanced force on the electrostatically displaceable conductive element in response to the electrostatically displaceable conductive element potential.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the electrostatically displaceable conductive element is displaced to contact a second surface.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the second surface contact is detected by electrical conduction between the electrostatically displaceable conductive element and the second surface.

13. The method according to claim 11 , where the repositionable tip is displaced to contact the second surface a plurality of times at a plurality of relative positions, further comprising determining a surface profile of the second surface.

14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the repositionable tip is scanned over a portion of the second surface, and the detected displacement of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element is determined for a plurality of scan positions, to map a surface profile of the second surface.

15. The method according to claim 11 , wherein contact of the repositionable tip with the second surface is determined by a piezoelectric transducer.

16. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising increasing wherein the peripheral electrode potential, to thereby increase an actuator beam deflection, until the repositionable tip contacts the second surface, and determining the deflection based on the voltage potential at a time of repositionable tip contact with the second surface.

17. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the peripheral electrode potential is oscillatory, and temporal characteristics of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element are determined.

18. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising tuning the non-zero bias voltage to control a response of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element to the peripheral electrode potential.

19. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the peripheral electrode potential is generated by a triboelectric generator.

20. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the displacement of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element is oscillatory, further comprising detecting the displacement as a dynamic displacement of the electrostatically displaceable conductive element.