A New Driving Method for Electrostatic MEMS Actuators to Prevent Sticking

摘要

Electrostatic-type Micrpelectromechanical System (MEMS) actuators often generate remnant charge in the insulating layer due to high electric fields. This can cause a moving electrode to "stick" to its insulator and slow its response. In this paper, we propose a new driving method that removes remnant charge and demonstrate the effectiveness of the method experimentally. The new method is applicable to many types of MEMS because it does not require any change to the actuator fabrication process, structure, dimensions or materials. The only modification is to the waveform of the applied voltage.