Laterally driven variable capacitor for displacement measurement of microactuators

Qingquan Liu; Qing-An Huang

doi:10.1117/12.483157

10 September 2002 Laterally driven variable capacitor for displacement measurement of microactuators

Qingquan Liu, Qing-An Huang

Proceedings Volume 4928, MEMS/MOEMS Technologies and Applications; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.483157
Event: Photonics Asia, 2002, Shanghai, China

Abstract

As an alternative to the visual observation method used conventionally, a new approach of sensing the displacement of suface-micromachined polysilicon actuators or microactuator arrays by the measurement of capacitance variation of the electrodes is proposed in this paper. Finite element analysis (FEA) is used to provide the relation between the lateral displacement and the capacitance. In the preliminary design, the capacitance variation is on the order of fF. In order to measure the displacement precisely, the electrode arrays are proposed. This method could be useful for testing a variety of laterally driven microactuators and arrays, including MEMDACs.

Citation Download Citation

Qingquan Liu and Qing-An Huang "Laterally driven variable capacitor for displacement measurement of microactuators", Proc. SPIE 4928, MEMS/MOEMS Technologies and Applications, (10 September 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.483157

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