Display device based on bistable electrostatic shutter
First Claim
1. A two-electrode optical electromechanical shutter comprising:
- a substrate;
a membrane originally resting on four pillars above said substrate;
said membrane being composed of the following elements;
a first conducting electrode facing said substrate and attached to two pillars of said four pillars through torsion hinges made from the same material as said conducting electrode;
said first conducting electrode is placed at the membrane edge in the shape of a stripe parallel to said membrane edge and has the width equal or less than the depth of the air gap existing between said substrate and said membrane, so that said membrane is capable of rotating around said torsion hinges and reaching position normal to the substrate plane;
a layer of insulator above said conducting electrode;
a top layer on said insulator.a second conducting electrode placed on said substrate underneath said first conducting electrode on said membrane and made as a stripe parallel to said first conducting electrode, so that under application of appropriate potential difference between said first and second conducting electrodes said membrane can move to the position normal to said substrate plane;
output conductive lines connected to said first and second conductive electrodes for application of a voltage to the shutter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Electromechanical shutter and display comprising a two-dimensional matrix of such shutters are proposed, in which the membrane under the force of electrostatic attraction moves from its original position parallel to the substrate plane into a final position normal to the substrate plane, thereby transferring the shutter, or display pixel, from its “off” state into its “on” state. To produce the “on” state, the electrostatic force is applied only to a narrow conductive strip placed on the side of the membrane and rotates the membrane around the torsion hinges attached to this strip. Two-and three-electrode shutter and pixel configurations are considered. Both versions provide a bi-stable membrane behavior, which implies that the voltage needed to transfer the membrane into the “on” state is larger than the voltage needed to maintain the membrane in this state. This feature of bi-stability allows realization of functions “pixel hold” and “pixel select” using a simple passive matrix architecture. In the “pixel hold” state, after forming image on the screen, the display consumes essentially no power. The “on”-to-“off” contrast ratio is expected to be high. These properties are very attractive for utilization of this display for electronic book application.
17 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A two-electrode optical electromechanical shutter comprising:
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a substrate; a membrane originally resting on four pillars above said substrate;
said membrane being composed of the following elements;a first conducting electrode facing said substrate and attached to two pillars of said four pillars through torsion hinges made from the same material as said conducting electrode;
said first conducting electrode is placed at the membrane edge in the shape of a stripe parallel to said membrane edge and has the width equal or less than the depth of the air gap existing between said substrate and said membrane, so that said membrane is capable of rotating around said torsion hinges and reaching position normal to the substrate plane;a layer of insulator above said conducting electrode; a top layer on said insulator. a second conducting electrode placed on said substrate underneath said first conducting electrode on said membrane and made as a stripe parallel to said first conducting electrode, so that under application of appropriate potential difference between said first and second conducting electrodes said membrane can move to the position normal to said substrate plane; output conductive lines connected to said first and second conductive electrodes for application of a voltage to the shutter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A three-electrode electromechanical shutter comprising:
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a substrate; a membrane originally resting on four pillars above said substrate;
said membrane being composed of the following elements;a first conducting electrode facing said substrate and attached to two pillars of said four pillars through torsion hinges made from the same material as said conducting electrode;
said first conducting electrode consists of three conducting pieces;the first piece is placed at the membrane edge in the shape of a stripe parallel to said membrane edge and has the width equal or less than the width of the air gap existing between said substrate and said membrane, so that said membrane is capable of rotating around said torsion hinges and reaching position normal to the substrate plane; the second piece in the shape of a stripe of the same width as said first piece is placed in the middle of said membrane parallel to said first piece; the third piece in the shape of a stripe is placed normally to said first and second pieces and connects said first and second pieces into a single said first conducting electrode; a layer of insulator above said conducting electrode; a top layer on said insulator; a second conducting electrode placed on said substrate underneath said first piece of said first conductive electrode on said membrane and made as a stripe parallel to said first piece; a third conducting electrode placed on said substrate underneath and parallel to said second piece of said first conducting electrode; output conductive lines connected to said first, second and third conductive electrodes for application of voltages to the shutter. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification