A microassembled large-deflection tip/tilt micromirror from a single-mask drie process

Abstract

An electrostatically-actuated micromirror optimized for large static pointing angles is designed, fabricated, and tested. A single-mask SOI process is used to create the actuators, mechanisms, and microassembly tools described in this paper. Two pick-and-place microassembly steps are used to (a) attach a mechanism that converts the actuators’ in-plane motion into rotational motion, and (b) attach a mirror face sheet to the rotation mechanism. We report the largest static range of deflection angles for a micromirror: 0-28.2o and 0-14.9o at 50V for each axis. Compared to the previous record [1], this corresponds to a 27% improvement in one axis but a 12% reduction in the other axis. Moreover, we use a single-mask process as opposed to the seven-mask process in [1]. Other new accomplishments reported here include a microfabricated tweezer that grabs and simultaneously rotates parts out of plane, a flexurally-suspended Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket for the assembled part, and a new tether design that holds the part while the tether is being broken.