Design, fabrication and characterization of high-stroke high-aspect ratio micro electro mechanical systems deformable mirrors for adaptive optics

Adaptive optic (AO) systems for next generation of extremely large telescopes (30--50 meter diameter primary mirrors) require high-stroke (10 microns), high-order (100x100) deformable mirrors at lower-cost than current technology. The required specifications are achievable with Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices fabricated with high-aspect ratio processing techniques.;This dissertation will review simulation results compared with displacement measurements of actuators utilizing a white-light interferometer. It will also review different actuator designs, materials and post-processing procedures fabricated in three different high-aspect ratio processes, Microfabrica's Electrochemical Fabrication (EFAB(TM)), HT-Micro's Precision Fabrication Technology (HTPF(TM)), and Innovative Micro Technologies (IMT) fabrication process. These manufacturing processes allow high-precision multilayer fabrication and their sacrificial layer thicknesses can be specified by the designer, rather than by constraints of the fabrication process.;Various types of high-stroke gold actuators for AO consisting of folded springs with rectangular and circular membranes as well as X-beam actuators supported diagonally by beams were designed, simulated, fabricated, and tested individually and as part of a continuous facesheet DM system. The design, modeling and simulation of these actuators are compared to experimental measurements of their pull-in voltages, which characterizes their stiffness and maximum stroke.;Vertical parallel plate ganged actuators fabricated with the EFAB(TM) process have a calculated pull-in voltage of 95V for a 600mum size device. In contrast, the pull-in voltages for the comb-drive actuators ranged from 55V for the large actuator, to 203V for the smallest actuator.;Simulations and interferometer scans of actuator designs fabricated with HT-Micro's Precision Fabrication (HTPF(TM)) two wafer bonded process with different spring supports have shown the ability of the actuators to achieve displacements of 1/3 of the initial gap between the spring layer and the counter electrode. Actuators and DM displacement vs. voltage have been measured with an interferometer and the corresponding results were compared to Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations. Simulations and interferometer scans have shown the ability of the actuators to achieve displacements of greater than 1/3 of the initial gap. A stroke of ∼9.4mum has been achieved by a DM, thus showing that this fabrication process holds promise in the manufacturing of future MEMS DMs for the next generation of extremely large telescopes.;A monolithic fabrication approach for integrating a faceplate on top of an actuator array from Innovative Micro Technologies has been investigated. This monolithic approach has the ability to deposit thicker layers (tens of micrometers) of structural and sacrificial materials than that of a surface micro machining processes. This fabrication process will allow the DMs to provide both high-stoke and high-order corrections, thus eliminating the need for a woofer-tweeter DM configuration. Both the actuator and the facesheet were fabricated monolithically in gold plated onto a thermally matched ceramic-glass substrate (WMS-15) using IMT's high-aspect ratio fabrication process.