Patent ID: 8390407

Claim:
An electrostatically controllable micro-electromechanical actuator comprising a stationary substrate and a movable element hinged on the substrate so that a part of the movable element can move in a first chosen direction, a first set of parallel conducting plates on the movable element, the height of which plates extends in the first direction and which plates are regularly spaced in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and a second set of parallel conducting plates on the stationary substrate, the two sets of plates being symmetrically interdigitated with each other and partially overlapping heightwise so that a control voltage applied between the two sets produces an electrostatic force having a component along the height of the plates in the first direction, the plates having opposite ends in a third direction perpendicular to the first and second directions, wherein the opposite ends of the plates of one of the sets are electrically and mechanically secured to two end crosspieces which extend in the second direction and which lie facing, in the third direction, the opposite ends of the plates of the other set.