Patent ID: 8179581

Claim:
An electrostatic micro actuator array system, the system comprising: a plurality of electrostatic micro actuators fabricated on a substrate, each of the micro actuators further comprising at least one movable electrode, at least one fixed hold-down electrode positioned on the substrate and underneath the at least one movable electrode and at least two fixed pull-down electrodes positioned on the substrate and underneath the at least one movable electrode; a hold-down signal line coupled to each of the fixed hold-down electrodes of each of the plurality of micro actuators; a plurality of first pull-down signal lines coupled to one of the at least two fixed pull-down electrodes of each micro actuator and a plurality of second pull-down signal lines coupled to another of the at least two fixed pull-down electrodes of each micro actuator, the first pull-down signal lines and the second pull-down signal lines configured in a cross-point matrix such that a unique pair of first pull-down signal lines and second pull-down signal lines is associated with each of the plurality of micro actuators.