Claims
- 1. An actuatable mirror structure comprising:a substrate with a top surface in a first plane; a plurality of metal suspension arms each comprising an internal stress gradient layer, each of said plurality of metal suspension arms having a first end and a second end, said first end being attached to said substrate; a metal area having a reflective surface layer, said metal area being integrally attached to said second ends of said plurality of metal suspension arms, the internal stress gradient layer to produce sufficient stress in said plurality of metal suspension arms to maintain the reflective surface layer in a second plane that is different from said first plane; and a plurality of electrodes arranged on said substrate adjacent to said plurality of metal suspension arms to create an electric field for producing deflective movement of said metal area having said reflective surface layer.
- 2. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 1 wherein said plurality of suspension arms is three in number.
- 3. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 1 wherein said substrate is glass.
- 4. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 1 wherein said internal stress gradient layer comprises MoCr.
- 5. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 4 wherein an internal stress gradient is on the order of 3 gigapascal across said stress gradient layer.
- 6. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 1 wherein said metal area has a substantially octagonal shape.
- 7. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 1 wherein said metal area is comprised of two MoCr layers having internal stress gradients acting in opposite directions.
- 8. An array of actuatable mirror structures, wherein each of said actuatable mirror structures comprises a structure in accordance with claim 1.
- 9. The array of claim 8 wherein said array is a two dimensional rectilinear array.
- 10. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of electrodes extends underneath said metal area.
- 11. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of electrodes has a substantially tapered shape.
- 12. The actuatable mirror structure of claim 1 wherein the first plane and the second plane are parallel when the plurality of electrodes are not producing an electric field.
- 13. An actuatable mirror structure comprising:a glass substrate; four metal suspension arms each comprising an internal stress gradient MoCr layer, each of said metal suspension arm having a first end and a second end, said first end being attached to said substrate; a metal area having a reflective surface layer, said metal area being integrally attached to said second ends of said four of metal suspension arms; and four electrodes arranged on said glass substrate adjacent to said four metal suspension arms, respectively, to create an electric field for producing deflective movement of said metal area having said reflective surface layer.
- 14. The structure of claim 13 wherein said reflective surface layer is gold.
- 15. An array of actuatable mirror structures, wherein each of said actuatable mirror structures comprises a structure in accordance with claim 13.
- 16. The array of claim 15 wherein said array is a two dimensional rectilinear array.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present invention is related to U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/675,108, 09/672,380, 09/675,045, 09/675,046, 09/672,381, 09/675,812 and 09/675,093 all filed on the same day and assigned to the same assignee.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
6061323 |
Jerman et al. |
May 2000 |
A |
6267605 |
Biegelsen |
Jul 2001 |
B1 |
6283601 |
Hagelin et al. |
Sep 2001 |
B1 |