Two-dimensional resonant optical scanners actuated by vertical electrostatic combs with a unique electrical isolation structure have been developed. The isolation on the movable frame surrounding 1 mm-diameter gimbal mirror is made by trenching the top silicon layer of an SOI wafer with leaving the thick bottom layers. Thanks to the large mass of the frame, the resonant frequencies range in 65.0-89.2 Hz for the frame and in 11.9-36.8 kHz for the mirror in a 4 mm4 mm chip. The resultant frequency ratio of the fast/slow axes reaches over 500 and such a high frequency ratio is utilized to display QVGA image by raster scanning of a laser beam.

A micromirror for an external cavity diode laser is described. The mirror is supported by two sets of parallel torsion bars enabling piston motion as well as rotation. These motions are for realizing continuous wavelength tuning. Adjusting two rotations electrically, the pivot of the mirror rotation can be controlled. The long stroke of the vertical comb is realized by the deep three-dimensional structure prepared by the wafer bending method.

An electrostatically driven micromirror is described. The vertical comb of a three-dimensional microstructure is realized by bending the device wafer having microstructures. By resetting the bending angle, the tuning of the vertical gap between moving and stationary combs is possible. The characteristics of the vertical comb drive actuator can be tuned, confirming the performance.

The relation between resonant frequency of micromirror with vertical combdrives and applied voltage between the upper and lower comb teeth was analyzed. Resonant frequency of the micromirror was controlled by stiffness of the torsion hinge. Resonant frequency of the mirror was proportional to the applied voltage between the upper and lower comb teeth at the same tilt angle.