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:
May. 07, 2013
Filed:
Jun. 30, 2009
Jianhua Yang, Palo Alto, CA (US);
R. Stanley Williams, Portola Valley, CA (US);
William Tong, San Francisco, CA (US);
Jianhua Yang, Palo Alto, CA (US);
R. Stanley Williams, Portola Valley, CA (US);
William Tong, San Francisco, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
An addressable nano-scale mechanical actuator is formed at the intersection of two nanowires. The actuator has an active region disposed between the two nanowires, which form the electrodes of the actuator. The active region contains an electrolytically decomposable material. When an activation voltage is applied to the electrodes, the material releases a gas that forms a bubble at one electrode, causing a bulging of a top surface of the actuator. The bulging may be used, via mechanical coupling, to provide mechanical actuation on a nanometer scale. The nanowires may be arranged in a two-dimensional array to provide an array of individually addressable actuators.