Motion limiter with reduced stiction
AssigneeMurata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
InventorsPekka Lehtinen, Akira Konno, Matti Liukku
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A microelectromechanical element is provided that includes a first device part and a second device part, and a motion-limiting structure having a first stopper bump and a second stopper bump. The first and second stopper bumps extend from the first device part toward the second device part. When one of the device parts moves toward the other device part in the out-of-plane direction and crosses a displacement threshold, the first stopper bump comes into contact with the second device part before the second stopper bump contacts the second device part, and the second stopper bump comes into contact with the second device part before the first device part contacts with the second device part.
Claims20
A microelectromechanical element comprising:
- a first device part comprising a mobile rotor in a device layer that defines an XY-plane;
- a second device part disposed adjacent to the first device part and comprising a fixed stator that does not lie in the XY-plane;
- and
- a motion-limiting structure having a first stopper bump and a second stopper bump and that is configured to prevent the first device part from directly contacting the second device part,
- wherein the first and second stopper bumps extend from one of the first and second device parts toward the other of the first and second device parts,
- wherein the first and second stopper bumps are dimensioned and arranged such that, when the mobile rotor moves toward the fixed stator in a Z-direction that is perpendicular to the XY-plane and crosses a displacement threshold, the first stopper bump contacts the second device part before the second stopper bump contacts the second device part and the second stopper bump contacts the second device part before the first device part contacts the second device part.
A microelectromechanical element comprising:
- a mobile rotor in a device layer that defines an XY-plane;
- a fixed stator that does not lie in the XY-plane;
- and
- a motion-limiting structure having a first stopper bump and a second stopper bump and that is configured to prevent the mobile rotor from directly contacting the fixed stator,
- wherein the first and second stopper bumps extend from the mobile rotor towards the fixed stator,
- wherein the first and second stopper bumps are configured such that, when the mobile rotor moves toward the fixed stator in a Z-direction that is perpendicular to the XY-plane and crosses a displacement threshold, the first stopper bump contacts the fixed stator before the second stopper bump contacts the fixed stator and the second stopper bump contacts the fixed stator before the mobile rotor contacts the fixed stator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.