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:
Jul. 11, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 01, 1998
Hugh Robert Malone, Phoenix, AZ (US);
James R Phillips, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Donald W Forst, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Deborah Sue Dendy, Tempe, AZ (US);
Dean Lawrence Cook, Mesa, AZ (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
An array (100) of voltage variable capacitors (110) is provided in which voltage variable capacitors (110) are fabricated with piezoelectric displacement devices (150). Voltage variable capacitors (110) have first plates (120) which are coupled to displacement devices (150). First plates (120) are dielectrically coupled to second plates (130). Displacement device (150) has a stack of metallic layers (154), voltage variable material blocks (152), and voltage supply terminals (170) and (180). Voltage differences are established across voltage variable material blocks (152) using voltage supply terminals (170) and (180). A voltage difference causes a voltage variable material layer to change thickness, and this causes first plate (120) to move relative to second plate (130). Voltage variable material is selected from a group of piezoelectric ceramics, which can include lead-titanate (PbTiO.sub.3), lead-zirconate (PbZrO.sub.3), barium-titanate (BaTiO.sub.3), and lead-zirconate-titanate (PbZr.sub.x Ti.sub.1-x O.sub.3), where x varies from zero to one.