Patent attributes
A microelectromechanical actuator, comprising: a substrate, having a surface; a conductive beam suspended parallel to the substrate, displaceable along an axis normal to the surface of the substrate; a center electrode on the substrate under the beam; a pair of side electrodes on the substrate configured, when charged, to exert an electrostatic force normal to the surface of the substrate on the beam that repulses the beam from the substrate, and exerts a balanced electrostatic force on the beam in a plane of the surface of the substrate, the center conductive electrode being configured to shield the beam from electrostatic forces induced by the side electrodes from beneath the beam, and the center electrode being configured to have a voltage different from a voltage on the beam, to thereby induce an attractive electrostatic force on the beam.
