MEMS tunable capacitor based on angular vertical comb drives

A MEMS tunable capacitor with angular vertical comb-drive (AVC) actuators is described where high capacitances and a wide continuous tuning range is achieved in a compact space. The comb fingers rotate through a small vertical angle which allows a wider tuning range than in conventional lateral comb...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Wu, Ming C, Nguyen, Hung D, Hah, Doo-Young, Patterson, Pamela R
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.08.2006
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Summary:A MEMS tunable capacitor with angular vertical comb-drive (AVC) actuators is described where high capacitances and a wide continuous tuning range is achieved in a compact space. The comb fingers rotate through a small vertical angle which allows a wider tuning range than in conventional lateral comb drive devices. Fabrication of the device is straightforward, and involves a single deep reactive ion etching step followed by release and out-of-plane assembly of the angular combs.