The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 20, 1983
Filed:
Aug. 09, 1982
Gerd Binnig, Richterswil, CH;
Hermann Nievergelt, Adliswil, CH;
Heinrich Rohrer, Richterswil, CH;
Edmund Weibel, Adliswil, CH;
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
The travelling support (1) comprises a piezo-electric plate (2) resting on three legs (6) whose bottom surface is insulated from the bench (8) on which the support is to travel, by a dielectric (7). The piezo-electric plate (2) can be caused to contract by means of an actuating voltage applied via sliders (9, 10) to top and bottom electrodes on the plate (2). By applying a voltage to the legs (6), these may be clamped selectively by electrostatic forces effective across the dielectric (7). Appropriate control of the actuating and clamping voltages causes the support (1) to either move in a linear or rotary fashion. The displacements the support can perform per step are in the nanometer range.