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AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronic, N.V.
InventorsDirk Jan Broer, Christiane Maria Rosette De Witz, Grietje Neeltje Mol, Roel Penterman
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A mechanical structure comprises an element which is moveable by nonmechanical means, such as heat or radiation, between a first state having a first shape and a second state having a second shape different. To this end, the element includes a layer of oriented polymerized liquid crystal which exhibits an anisotropic expansion when subjected to such means. In order to facilitate manufacture the element is positioned on a substrate which has a region of high adhesiveness and a region of low adhesiveness for polymerized liquid crystal. To manufacture such structures a layer of oriented polymerizable liquid crystal is formed on a substrate (201) which is provided with a patterned surface that provides adhesive regions (204) with high adhesiveness to polymerized liquid crystal and nonadhesive regions (203) with low adhesiveness to polymerized liquid crystal. After polymerization, for example a thermal shock is applied which causes the layer of polymerized liquid crystal to delaminate at the non-adhering region while remaining fixed to the adhesive regions. Thus, the method does not require time-consuming under-etching steps.
A mechanical structure comprising a substrate and a layer of an oriented polymerized liquid crystal forming an element on said substrate,
A method of manufacturing a mechanical structure comprising a substrate and a layer of an oriented polymerized liquid crystal forming an element on said substrate, wherein the oriented polymerized liquid crystal of said layer has an anisotropic orientation such as to render the element moveable by non-mechanical means between a first state having a first shape and a second state having a second shape different from the first, said method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.