Patent ID: 7705514

Claim:
An electrostatic actuator comprising: (a) a base, defining a base plane; (b) a plurality of fixed electrodes attached onto the base, having a spacing between two neighboring electrodes; (c) a movable element having a plurality of movable electrodes, said movable element defining a movable plane; (d) said movable element being elastically positioned at an initial spacing with respect to the base; (e) each said electrode having a thickness, a width and a length; (f) each movable electrode being directly opposed to and substantially aligned with one fixed electrode, said fixed electrode referred to as aligned fixed electrode; (g) each aligned fixed electrode having at least one adjacent fixed electrode unaligned with any moving electrode, said fixed electrode referred to as unaligned fixed electrode; (h) voltage source for applying voltage to each of the electrodes; (i) said voltage source operable to: (i) generate a net repulsive force perpendicular to the base plane by applying a first voltage to all of the movable and the aligned fixed electrodes and a second voltage to the non-aligned fixed electrodes, wherein said first and said second voltages not being equal; or (ii) generate a net attractive force perpendicular to the base plane by applying a first voltage to the moving electrodes and a second voltage to all fixed electrodes, wherein said first and said second voltages not being equal.