Light reflecting micromachined cantilever

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.
Briefly summarized, according to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a radiation reflector comprised of: a support body having a recess formed therein; a cantilever member mounted to said support body for deflection into said recess; radiation reflection means integral with said cantilever member for reflecting incident radiation to a first position when the cantilever member is not deflected; a poled magnet mounted on said cantilever member; and electromagnet means integral with said support body for deflecting said cantilever member to reflect incident radiation to a second position by interacting with said poled magnet.
A miniature electromagnetic light reflector fabricated on a silicon substrate is disclosed.
The substrate comprises a cantilever, activation current trace, flux focusing member, and integrated control circuitry to control the current to the activation trace.
The cantilever is formed from a silicon nitride base which is coated with a hard magnetic material that is polarized along its length.
The magnetic material is itself coated with a thin metallic layer for reflecting incident light.
These and other aspects, objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims, and by reference to the accompanying drawings.
ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention has the following advantages in that it is: miniaturized, low in cost, amiable to automated manufacturing, and permits integrated micro-electromagnetic shutters to be manufactured using modern methods of mass integration, thereby substantially reducing assembly cost, and these shutters enable a high degree of miniaturization with improved reliability.