Patent ID: 6869169

Claim:
A thermal actuator for a micro-electromechanical device comprising: (a) a base element formed with a depression having opposing anchor edges, said opposing anchor edges defining a central plane; (b) a deformable element attached to the base element at the opposing anchor edges, the deformable element constructed as a planar lamination including a first layer of a first material having a low coefficient of thermal expansion and a second layer of a second material having a high coefficient of thermal expansion, the deformable element formed to have a residual shape bowing outward from the central plane in a first direction away from the second layer; and (c) apparatus adapted to apply a heat pulse to the deformable element, causing a sudden rise in the temperature of the deformable element, the deformable element initially bowing farther outward in the first direction, then, due to thermomechanical torque's acting at the opposing anchor edges, reversing and snapping through the central plane to bow outward in a second direction toward the second layer, and then relaxing to the residual shape as the temperature decreases thereof.