Methods of fabricating interferometric modulators by selectively removing a material
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for making an interferometric modulator, comprising:
- depositing a material over a first electrode layer;
depositing a second layer over the material, the second layer comprising a plurality of openings formed therethrough, the openings being configured to expose the material and to facilitate operation of the resulting interferometric modulator;
flowing an etchant through the openings; and
etching the material to remove a sacrificial portion of the material to thereby form a plurality of cavities each having a cavity edge and at least one support structure, the support structure comprising a remaining portion of the material, the etching being non-selective between the sacrificial portion and the remaining portion of the material, wherein at least one cavity edge merges with one or more other cavity edges to form the support structure.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods for making MEMS devices such as interferometric modulators involve selectively removing a sacrificial portion of a material to form an internal cavity, leaving behind a remaining portion of the material to form a post structure. The material may be blanket deposited and selectively altered to define sacrificial portions that are selectively removable relative to the remaining portions. Alternatively, a material layer can be laterally recessed away from openings in a covering layer. These methods may be used to make unreleased and released interferometric modulators.
478 Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A method for making an interferometric modulator, comprising:
-
depositing a material over a first electrode layer; depositing a second layer over the material, the second layer comprising a plurality of openings formed therethrough, the openings being configured to expose the material and to facilitate operation of the resulting interferometric modulator; flowing an etchant through the openings; and etching the material to remove a sacrificial portion of the material to thereby form a plurality of cavities each having a cavity edge and at least one support structure, the support structure comprising a remaining portion of the material, the etching being non-selective between the sacrificial portion and the remaining portion of the material, wherein at least one cavity edge merges with one or more other cavity edges to form the support structure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 25, 26)
-
-
15. A method for making an interferometric modulator, the interferometric modulator comprising at least a first mirror, a second mirror separated from the first mirror by a plurality of cavities each having a cavity edge, and at least one support structure positioned at a side of the cavities and configured to support the second mirror spaced from the first mirror, the method comprising:
-
providing a substrate, the substrate having a first area configured to underlie the first mirror and a second area configured to underlie the support structure; depositing a first mirror layer over at least the first area; depositing a material over the first area and over the second area; depositing a second mirror layer over at least the material over the first area; and forming a plurality of openings configured to facilitate flow of an etchant to the material over the first area and to facilitate operation of the resulting interferometric modulator; the material over the first area being removable by the etchant to thereby form the plurality of cavities and the support structure, where the support structure comprises the material over the second area, the material having substantially uniform properties, wherein at least one cavity edge merges with one or more other cavity edges to form the support structure. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification