Design,fabrication and vacuum operation characteristics of two-dimensional comb-drive micro-scanner

We present design, fabrication, and characteristics of two-dimensional micro-machined comb-drive scanner to operate in vacuum. The scanner can be actuated in two orthogonal axes using the slanted electrostatic comb-drive and silicon conductive V-shaped torsion hinges fabricated from a silicon-on-insulator wafer. The resonant frequencies of the inner mirror and the gimbal frame are 40 kHz and 162 Hz, respectively. The resonant frequency ratio is 247. The optical scanning angles for the inner mirror and the gimbal frame are 11.5° and 14° at the operation voltages of 12 and 10 V in 1 Pa vacuum, respectively. These driving voltages are smaller by the factors of about 21 and 3 than those in atmosphere, respectively. The dependence of quality factor on pressure for the inner mirror and the gimbal frame is also experimentally investigated and compared with the theoretical calculation based on air-friction models.