Thin autofocus camera module by a large-stroke micromachined deformable mirror

The conventional auto-focus and zoom image systems were made by a set of motor-moved lenses. Because of mechanical moving parts, it is not easy to miniaturize their sizes. In this paper, we propose a thin autofocus system using a large stroke MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) deformable mirror which has the potential to downscale the size and to minimize chromatic aberration. The large stroke MEMS deformable mirror is made by a polyimide membrane that has a maximum 12 microm displacement over a 3 mm aperture. The module size is 5.4 mm thick in optical design layout and 6.7 mm after packaging. This autofocus system is designed with the f-number=4.13, on-axis MTF=0.28 at full frequency of 230 cycles/mm, and incident light within+/-26 degree. The position of clear image can vary from 4 cm to 50 cm achieved by controlling the surface curvature of the MEMS deformable mirror.