A Programmable Controller/Driver For Electrostatic Mems Micromotors

This paper describes the design, operation, and use of a PC controlled drive circuit designed to be used to experiment with different drive waveforms on electrostatic MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems) micromotors. The system designed features a selectible excitation pattern, a programmable frequency generator, and an adjustable high voltage source. The system features excitation patterns for wobble and rotary side drive micromotors. The excitation pattern generator was designed primarily to control wobble and rotary side drive micromotors, however, the system can easily be adapted to produce drive waveforms for almost any MEMS micromotor. Specifically, anyone possessing a universal programmer and the Xilinx Foundation Series Software can easily modify the excitation pattern generator to suit their needs. The excitation pattern generator offers maximum flexibility by allowing the pulse width applied to each stator to be varied from one to eight clock cycles. The system designed offers an adjustable high voltage source that only requires an input of 5V DC with a maximum supply current of 333 mA. In addition, the excitation frequency can be varied from 1Hz to 1 MHz. The operation of the controller is easy due to user friendly software that runs on a PC with the Windows95 or the Windows 98 operating system. The system designed is ideal for anyone doing research with MEMS micromotors.