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US 7,119,994 B2Granted
Actuator having a pair of arms with piezoelectric devices attached thereto and methods of making the same
AssigneeTDK Corporation
InventorsMasaichi Miyano, Mitsunao Homma
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The actuator in accordance with the present invention is provided with a pair of arms and a connecting part for connecting them to each other. The arms and connecting part are integrally formed from single-crystal silicon. Respective piezoelectric devices are attached to the arms.
Claims5
A head actuator comprising:
- a silicon structure, integrally formed from single-crystal silicon, having only two arms and a connecting part for connecting the arms to each other;
- and
- respective piezoelectric devices attached to the arms.
A method of making an actuator, the method comprising the steps of:
- etching one surface of a single-crystal silicon substrate so as to form a plurality of plate-like projections arranged in parallel on the single-crystal silicon substrate;
- cutting the single-crystal silicon substrate into a plurality of blocks each having a pair of plate-like projections;
- attaching an elongated piezoelectric device body to an outer side face of each of a pair of plate-like projections in each block;
- and
- cutting the block having the elongated piezoelectric devices attached thereto into a plurality of actuators each comprising a silicon structure integrally formed with a pair of arms and a connecting part for connecting the arms to each other, and respective piezoelectric devices attached to the arms.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.