Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirrors are widely used for optical modulation, attenuation, steering, switching and tracking. In most cases, MEMS mirrors are packaged in air, resulting in overshoot and ringing upon actuation. In this paper, an electrothermal bimorph MEMS mirror that does not generate overshoot in step response, even operating in air, is reported. This is achieved by pro...

A new class of polymeric piezoelectric bimorph actuators, called C-blocks because of their curved shape, has been developed to overcome limitations of conventional bimorph and stack piezoelectric configurations. Design tradeoffs are investigated in the current research using various performance criteria such as maximum deflection, force, and strain energy. The set of design variables to optimiz...

In this work, the design, fabrication process and theoretical characterization of an XYZ gap-closing microstage actuator based on a simple, two-mask silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process is presented. An aluminum thin film is selectively deposited on the serpentine supporting springs of the actuator forming a bimorph structure. The lattice mismatch between silicon and the aluminum film introduces ...

For a novel inertial piezoelectric rotary motor, the equation of the strain energy in the piezoceramic bimorph and the equations of the strain energy and the kinetic energy in the rotor are given. Based on them, the dynamic equation of the motor is obtained. Using these equations, the inertial driving torque of the motor is investigated. The results show that the impulsive driving torque change...

In situ metrology overcomes many of the limitations of existing metrology techniques and is capable of exceeding the performance of present-day optics. A novel technique for precisely characterizing an X-ray bimorph mirror and deducing its two-dimensional (2D) slope error map is presented. This technique has also been used to perform fast optimization of a bimorph mirror using the derived 2D pi...

This paper presents a mathematical model and a finite element model to investigate the model parameters of mechanical dither in a ring laser gyroscope in which the bimorph piezoelectric actuator are employed as driving mechanisms to avoid the problem of so-called lock-in effects. The validity and efficiency of the mathematical model and finite element model are conformed by comparing with the s...

This paper reports a novel large vertical displacement (LVD) microactuator that can generate large piston motion and bi-directional scanning at low driving voltage. A LVD micromirror device has been fabricated by using a unique deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) post-CMOS micromachining process that simultaneously provides thin-film and single-crystal silicon microstructures. The bimorph actuation s...