Engineering Commons^™

Development Of Process Techniques For Bistable Microbeam Fabrication, Varsha Francis

LSU Master's Theses

A design which uses bistable beams to modulate light is suggested in this thesis and appropriate processing techniques are presented. A beam when placed under compression above the Euler limit has two stable states. The compression in an electroplated beam can be controlled by the plating current density of nickel during electrodeposition. This beam is attached to an electromechanical comb. Voltages applied to the combs cause the beam to snap from one stable state to another. Structures were designed with dimensions that gave feasible voltages, snap distances, compressions required to snap. A two mask process was used for the fabrication …