Bidirectional, out-of-plane, comb drive accelerometer

Abstract

A bi-directional, out-of-plane electrostatic comb drive apparatus including two electrically independent sets of stator comb tines; and a method for fabricating an out-of-plane comb drive with stacked sets of stator comb tines. A first set of stator comb tines is offset from a second set of stator comb tines. A set of rotor comb tines interleaves with both sets of stator comb tines. A first voltage applied to the first set of stator comb tines operates to pull the rotor tines toward the first set of stator comb tines. A second voltage applied to the second set of stator comb tines operates to pull the rotor tines toward the second set of stator comb tines, enabling bi-directional operation. A fabrication method is disclosed that enables fabrication of the first and second sets of stator comb tines that are mechanically and electrically independent and interleaved by the rotor comb tines.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.