Micromirrors and off-diagonal hinge structures for micromirror arrays in projection displays
First Claim
1. A spatial light modulator comprising an array of micromirrors, each micromirror comprising:
- a hinge; and
a micromirror plate held via the hinge on a substrate, the micromirror plate being disposed in a plane separate from the hinge and having a diagonal extending across the micromirror plate, the micromirror plate being attached to the hinge such that the micromirror plate can rotate along a rotation axis that is parallel to, but off-set from the diagonal of the micromirror plate.
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Abstract
A spatial light modulator is disclosed, along with methods for making such a modulator, that comprises an array of micromirrors each having a hinge and a micromirror plate held via the hinge on a substrate, the micromirror plate being disposed in a plane separate from the hinge and having a diagonal extending across the micromirror plate, the micromirror plate being attached to the hinge such that the micromirror plate can rotate along a rotation axis that is parallel to, but off-set from the diagonal of the micromirror plate. Also disclosed is a projection system that comprises such a spatial light modulator, as well as a light source, condensing optics, wherein light from the light source is focused onto the array of micromirrors, projection optics for projecting light selectively reflected from the array of micromirrors onto a target, and a controller for selectively actuating the micromirrors in the array.
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Citations
98 Claims
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1. A spatial light modulator comprising an array of micromirrors, each micromirror comprising:
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a hinge; and
a micromirror plate held via the hinge on a substrate, the micromirror plate being disposed in a plane separate from the hinge and having a diagonal extending across the micromirror plate, the micromirror plate being attached to the hinge such that the micromirror plate can rotate along a rotation axis that is parallel to, but off-set from the diagonal of the micromirror plate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 81)
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41. A spatial light modulator comprising an array of micromirrors on a substrate, each micromirror comprising:
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two posts;
a hinge; and
a micromirror plate held on the substrate via the hinge and two posts, the micromirror plate being disposed in a plane separate from the hinge and having a diagonal extending across the micromirror plate, the micromirror plate being attached to the hinge at a point not along a straight line between the two posts. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82)
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83. A method comprising:
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providing a substrate;
depositing a first sacrificial layer;
forming a micromirror plate having a diagonal;
depositing a second sacrificial layer;
patterning the sacrificial layers to form two vias down to the substrate and a via down to the micromirror plate, the three vias forming a triangle;
forming a hinge-structure comprising posts in the three vias and a hinge structure therebetween for connecting the micromirror plate to the substrate; and
removing the sacrificial layers. - View Dependent Claims (84, 85, 86, 87)
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88. A method comprising:
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providing a substrate;
depositing a first sacrificial layer;
forming a micromirror plate having a diagonal;
depositing a second sacrificial layer;
forming a hinge-structure on the substrate that attaches to the micromirror plate at a point not along the diagonal, the hinge structure for holding the micromirror plate above the substrate such that the micromirror plate can rotate by means of a rotation axis that is parallel to, but off-set from the diagonal of the micromirror plate; and
removing the first and second sacrificial layers. - View Dependent Claims (89, 90, 91, 92)
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93. A reflective micromirror device, comprising:
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a substrate;
a micromirror plate held on the substrate for reflecting incident light; and
a hinge-structure connecting the micromirror plate to the substrate, wherein the hinge structure is a multilayer structure having layers of different intrinsic stress such that the hinge structure is curved due to the difference in intrinsic stress. - View Dependent Claims (94)
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95. A method for forming a micromirror for a spatial light modulator, comprising:
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providing a substrate;
depositing a first sacrificial layer;
forming a micromirror plate on the first sacrificial layer for reflecting an incident light;
depositing a second sacrificial layer on the micromirror plate;
forming a hinge-structure on the second sacrificial layer for connecting the micromirror plate to the substrate, wherein the forming of the hinge structure comprises depositing a first hinge-structure layer having an intrinsic positive tensile-strain, and depositing a second hinge-structure layer on the first layer, wherein the second layer has an intrinsic negative compression strain; and
removing the first and second sacrificial layers such that the first and second hinge-structure layers are curved at their natural resting states due to the difference in intrinsic strain, such that the micromirror plate is held by the hinge-structure in a position not parallel to the substrate.
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- 96. The method of claim 96, wherein the first hinge structure layer is deposited by chemical vapor deposition.
Specification