Grating light valve with encapsulated dampening gas
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising a grating light valve for modulating a light source having wavelength λ
- , wherein the grating light valve is encapsulated with a dampening gas environment and comprises a plurality of spatially arranged movable ribbons with reflective top surfaces and reflective substrate surfaces and wherein the dampening gas environment comprising a noble group VIII element for reducing oscillatory vibrations of the movable ribbons as the movable ribbons are switched between the conditions for constructive and destructive interference.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An optical MEM device is encapsulated with a dampening gas to reduce oscillatory vibrations of movable parts during the operation of the device. Preferably, the dampening gas comprises one or more noble gases, such as neon and/or krypton with a partial pressure in a range of 50 to 100% of the total dampening gas pressure. In further embodiments, the dampening gas comprises a mixture of one or more noble gases and an inert carrier gas, such as nitrogen. Preferably, the optical MEM device is sealed within a die with a dampening gas pressure between 0.5 to 3.0 atmospheres at 20 degree Celsius. The current invention is particularly useful for reducing oscillatory vibrations of optical MEM devices having a plurality of movable ribbon structures configured to modulate light with one or more wavelengths in the near infrared (800 to 4000 nanometers) and which operate at high switching rates (4-40 Volts/nano second) and at high switching frequencies (1 kHz and greater).
-
Citations
25 Claims
-
1. An apparatus comprising a grating light valve for modulating a light source having wavelength λ
- , wherein the grating light valve is encapsulated with a dampening gas environment and comprises a plurality of spatially arranged movable ribbons with reflective top surfaces and reflective substrate surfaces and wherein the dampening gas environment comprising a noble group VIII element for reducing oscillatory vibrations of the movable ribbons as the movable ribbons are switched between the conditions for constructive and destructive interference.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- 11. A system comprising an array of grating light valves encapsulated within a dampening gas environment comprising Neon or Krypton gas with a partial pressure in a range 0.5 to 3 atmospheres at 20 degrees Celsius.
-
17. A method for making a grating light valve comprising the step of:
-
a. providing a die structure containing a grating light valve structure;
b. bathing the grating light valve structure with a Neon-based dampening gas; and
c. sealing the die with the grating light valve structure and the dampening gas contained within the die. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
a. providing a metallized gasket around a sealing edge of the die structure;
b. providing a glass cap with a complementary metallized gasket;
c. placing the glass cap over the die and aligning the metallized gaskets with a solder material between the metallized gaskets; and
d. adjusting the temperature of the die structure and the glass cap to a temperature sufficient to melt the solder material and seal the glass cap to the die structure.
-
-
22. The method of claim 17, wherein dampening gas is equal to or greater than 50% Neon gas.
-
23. The method of claim 17, wherein dampening gas is equal to or greater than 50% Krypton gas.
-
24. The method of claim 17, wherein the grating light valve comprises a plurality of elongated ribbon elements and a substrate structure, wherein a portion of the ribbon elements are repeatedly separated by a distance greater than 200 nanometers when a sufficient alternating bias voltage is applied across the portion of the ribbons elements and the substrate structure.
-
25. An optical MEM device encapsulated within a die with a dampening gas comprising a noble gas environment with a pressure of 0.5 or more at 20 degrees Celsius, the device comprising an array of ribbon elements spatially arranged over a substrate, wherein the ribbons have reflective top surfaces and wherein a portions of the ribbons are configured to move to modulate light reflected from the reflective top surfaces.
Specification