This paper proposes an optical dynamic gain equalizer (hereafter DGEQ) using an electrostatic controlled linear inchworm actuator (hereafter ECLIA). A slider of ECLIA attenuates an intensity of an optical beam, so that parallel motions of arrayed sliders can control and equalize spectrums of demultiplexed signals. A designed DGEQ takes the following advantages of ECLIA to provide gain flattening of spectral gain non-uniformities: Precise motion, Large stroke, Parallel motions of arrayed sliders. Through our experiments, 1dB attenuation of optical intensity was obtained by 20μm motion of a single slider. Furthermore, the optical attenuation by independent motions of 3 sliders has been confirmed. Batch-fabrication of arrayed sliders into a SOI substrate will be described towards a ECLIA based DGEQ with higher resolution. The batch-fabricated slider could be operated successfully. Each slider could move over 150μm range with nm order precision.

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A rotational vibrating disk with a high Q value was proposed and applied to a micro gyroscope. This structure consists of a disk surrounded by four pendulums mounted at 90° increments. When rotationally resonant vibration is induced in the disk, there is an unmoving point on each arm of pendulums. When this point, a nodal point, is clamped, the vibratory energy loss was able to be reduced. This structure achieves a very high Q value of 85,000 in a vacuum. We used this rotational mode as a reference vibration for a vibratory gyroscope. The excitation of the vibration was induced by electrostatic forces. Electrodes were placed adjacent to the lower portion of the disk to measure the angular rate. The electrodes established a capacitance between themselves and the disk. The Coriolis force produces a displacement of the disk and this displacement varies the detection capacitance. Measuring the change in capacitance allowed for the measurement of the angular rate.
This paper describes the design and fabrication of the proposed device along with some results and observations.

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This paper describes a six-axis force/tactile sensor for robot fingers. A mathematical model of this sensor is proposed. By this model, the grasping force and its moments, and touching position of robot finger for holding an object can be calculated. A new sensor is fabricated based on this model, where the elastic sensing unit of the sensor is made of a brazen plate. A new compensating method for decreasing error is proposed. Furthermore, the performance of this sensor is examined. The test results present approximate relationship between theoretical input and output of the sensor. It is obvious that the performance of the new sensor is better than the sensor with no compensation.

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This paper describes the design, fabrication process and preliminary evaluation of an electrostatic ink jet printer head with vertical diaphragms in deep trenches. By adopting the novel structure where an ink cavity is surrounded by the vertical diaphragm, the footprint of each unit (40 μm × 500 μm) becomes approximately one fifth as small as that of a conventional one. Such small footprint is advantageous in cost, resolution and printing speed. To make the vertical diaphragms, a 0.5 μm thick sacrificial thermally-oxidized layer and a 4.5 μm thick poly-silicon layer are sequentially formed in deep-reactive-ion-etched trenches, and then the sacrificial layer is etched away by fluoric acid. The nozzles are fabricated on a Pyrex glass substrate by femtosecond laser ablation, and the nozzle outside is covered with a water repellant Au/Pt/Ti layer. Impedance measurement found that the electrostatic gaps were in contact or closely approaching. This could be because the diaphragms buckled by compressive stress induced in low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). Ink ejection was tried using commercially-available blue ink, but failed. The nozzles were covered with the ink, because the water repellant finish of the nozzle outside was not good.

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The resistivity of the resistor in thermal inkjet printers is generally less than 1mΩcm. Thin-film Ta-Si-O-N resistor heaters with high resistivity have been developed. The thin Ta-Si-O-N films can be created with specific compositions to give resistivities ranging from 4 to 13 mΩcm, and show high resistance to cavitation damage. The atomic density and resistivity of these thin Ta-Si-O-N films were higher than those observed thin Ta-Si-O films.

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