Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7042625?dq=5,987,610
Timestamp: 2017-09-20 17:46:21
Document Index: 380767454

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 720', 'art 720', 'arts 741', 'arts 741', 'arts 732', 'arts 741', 'arts 741', 'arts 732', 'art 732', 'arts 732', 'arts 741', 'arts 732', 'arts 732', 'arts 732']

Patent US7042625 - Light modulator having digital micro blaze diffraction grating - Google Patents
Disclosed is a light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating. In the light modulator, a fine protrusion is formed on an edge of a lower surface of a diffraction member so that a reflective surface inclines due to the fine protrusion when the diffraction member is drawn downward....http://www.google.com/patents/US7042625?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7042625 - Light modulator having digital micro blaze diffraction grating
Publication number US7042625 B2
Application number US 11/171,635
Also published as US20060077532
Publication number 11171635, 171635, US 7042625 B2, US 7042625B2, US-B2-7042625, US7042625 B2, US7042625B2
Inventors Yoon Shik Hong, Dong Ho Shin, Seung Heon HAN, Yoon Joon Choi
Patent Citations (11), Referenced by (14), Classifications (13), Legal Events (4)
Light modulator having digital micro blaze diffraction grating
US 7042625 B2
Disclosed is a light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating. In the light modulator, a fine protrusion is formed on an edge of a lower surface of a diffraction member so that a reflective surface inclines due to the fine protrusion when the diffraction member is drawn downward.
1. A light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating, comprising:
a pair of supporting members displaced on the substrate, and spaced apart from each other;
a plurality of diffraction members having a band shape, which are connected to the supporting members at both ends thereof so as to be suspended on the substrate, are arranged parallel to each other, and have reflective surfaces for reflecting incident light on upper sides thereof;
a plurality of protrusions, each of which is provided on an edge of a lower surface of a corresponding one of the diffraction members so that the reflective surfaces of the diffraction members incline when the diffraction members are drawn downward; and
a plurality of driving units, which moves the diffraction members upward or downward so that the reflective surfaces of the adjacent diffraction members are situated at a first position, in which the reflective surfaces form a flat mirror, or at a second position, in which the reflective surfaces diffract the incident light.
2. The light modulator as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of the protrusions is provided on an edge of a central part of the corresponding diffraction member.
3. The light modulator as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of the protrusions is a plate provided on the edge of the lower surface of the corresponding diffraction member.
4. The light modulator as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of the driving units comprises:
a lower electrode provided on the substrate and under the diffraction members; and
an upper electrode comprised of the diffraction members, and moved downward by electrostatic force when voltage is applied to the diffraction members.
5. The light modulator as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of the driving units comprises:
a lower electrode comprised of the substrate; and
The present invention relates, in general, to a light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating and, more particularly, to a light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating, in which a protrusion is formed on an edge of a diffraction member so that a reflective surface inclines when the diffraction member is drawn downward.
Limited by the vertical distance (d) between the reflective surface 22 of each ribbon 18 and the reflective surface of the substrate 16, the grating amplitude of the modulator 10 is controlled by applying a voltage between the ribbon 18 (the reflective surface 22 of the ribbon 18 acting as a first electrode) and the substrate 16 (a conductive layer 24 of a lower side of the substrate 16 acting as a second electrode). In its undeformed state, with no voltage applied, the grating amplitude is λo/2, and the total round-trip path difference between light beams reflected from the ribbon and substrate is one wavelength λo, and thus, the phase of the reflected light is reinforced.
FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a blaze grating light valve according to conventional technology. The blaze grating light valve 120 comprises a substrate 122, elongate members 124, first posts 126 (only one post is shown), and second posts 128 (only one post is shown). The substrate 122 includes a first conductor 130. It is preferable that each of the elongate members 124 include reflective first and second surfaces 132, 134.
The first and second surfaces 132, 134 form a blaze profile 136 for the elongate member 124. One of the first posts 126 and one of the second posts 128 function to connect each elongate member 124 to the substrate 122. Furthermore, the elongate member 124 is connected to the substrate 122 at first and second ends thereof (not shown).
The elongate member 124 is connected through the first and second posts 126, 128 to the substrate at the first and second ends thereof (not shown). Preferably, the elongate members 124, the first posts 126, and the second posts 128 are made of an elastic material.
It is preferable that the elastic material include silicon nitride. Preferably, the first and second surfaces 132, 134 each include a reflector.
It is preferable that the reflector include an aluminum layer. Alternatively, the reflector is made of another metal. Selectively, the reflector is a multilayer dielectric reflector. The substrate 122 includes the first conductor 130.
Preferably, the substrate 122 includes silicone, and a first conductive layer is doped polysilicone. If a visible spectrum is used, the portion of the elongate member 124 between the first post 126 and the second post 128 has a length of about 200 μm and a width of about 4.25 μm.
FIG. 6 illustrates a second blaze grating light valve according to conventional technology. In the second blaze grating light valve 120B, a second elongate member 124C is used instead of the elongate member 124 of the blaze grating light valve 120.
In the second elongate member 124C, a step profile 150 of the elongate member 124 is substituted by a flat surface 226 inclined at a blaze angle (
Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,360 discloses a conventional blaze diffraction grating, which causes diffracted light by inclining a reflective surface using an electrostatic force, as described in an example (FIG. 7) thereof.
However, the conventional blaze diffraction grating (disclosed in the patent application of Silicon Light Machines Inc. as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,360) is problematic in that, since it is difficult to precisely control the rotation angle, reliability is reduced.
Furthermore, the light modulator having a blaze diffraction grating according to the conventional technology is problematic in that it is difficult to conduct rapid control because of residual oscillation.
Therefore, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above disadvantages occurring in the prior arts, and an object of the present invention is to provide a light modulator having a blaze diffraction grating, which has high reliability and low residual oscillation.
The above object can be accomplished by providing a light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating. The light modulator comprises a substrate; a pair of supporting members displaced on the substrate, and spaced apart from each other; a plurality of diffraction members having a band shape, which are connected to the supporting members at both ends thereof so as to be suspended on the substrate, are arranged parallel to each other, and have reflective surfaces for reflecting incident light on upper sides thereof; a plurality of protrusions, each of which is provided on an edge of a lower surface of a corresponding one of the diffraction members so that the reflective surfaces of the diffraction members incline when the diffraction members are drawn downward; and a plurality of driving units, which moves the diffraction members upward or downward so that the reflective surfaces of the adjacent diffraction members are situated at a first position, in which the reflective surfaces form a flat mirror, or at a second position, in which the reflective surfaces diffract the incident light.
FIG. 7A is a perspective view of a light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, FIG. 7B is a plane view of the light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, FIG. 7C is a front view of a light modulator having a variable blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, FIG. 7D is an exploded perspective view of the light modulator having the variable blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, and FIG. 7E is a perspective view showing a lower surface of a diffraction member;
FIGS. 8A and 8 b illustrate diffraction; and
FIGS. 9A to 9H are sectional views, which are taken along the line C–C′ of FIG. 7B and show the fabrication of the digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention.
Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given of the present invention, with reference to FIGS. 7A to 9H.
FIG. 7 a is a perspective view of a light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, FIG. 7B is a plane view of the light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, FIG. 7C is a front view of a light modulator having a variable blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, FIG. 7D is an exploded perspective view of the light modulator having the variable blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, and FIG. 7E is a perspective view showing a lower surface of a diffraction member.
Referring to FIGS. 7A to 7E, the light modulator having the digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention comprises a substrate 710, a first lower electrode 720 a, a second lower electrode 720 b, a lower electrode connection part 720 c, supporting members 730 a, 730 a′, 730 b, 730 b′, and diffraction members 740 a–740 d.
The first lower electrode 720 a is attached to an upper side of a first portion of the substrate 710, the second lower electrode 720 b is attached to an upper side of a second portion of the substrate 710, and the lower electrode connection part 720 c electrically connects the first lower electrode 720 a to the second lower electrode 720 b therethrough.
Additionally, the first supporting members 730 a, 730 b are positioned between the first lower electrode 720 a and a first end of the substrate, and have rectangular sections. The first supporting members 730 a, 730 b are extended along longitudinal sides of the first lower electrode 720 a. The first supporting members 730 a, 730 b are separated from each other by pixel units so that external power is independently supplied thereto. Thereby, they are independently operated.
Furthermore, the second supporting members 730 a′, 730 b′ are positioned between the second lower electrode 720 b and a second end of the substrate, and have rectangular sections. Longitudinal sides of them are parallel to longitudinal sides of the second lower electrode 720 b. The second supporting members 730 a′, 730 b′ are separated from each other in a pixel unit so that external power is independently supplied thereto. Thereby, they are independently operated.
The diffraction members 740 a–740 d include first external parts 741 a–741 d, second external parts 741 a′–741 d′, and central parts 732 a–732 d.
Furthermore, first ends of the first external parts 741 a–741 d of the diffraction members 740 a–740 d are attached to the first supporting members 730 a, 730 b, and the second external parts 741 a′–741 d′ are attached to the second supporting members 730 a′, 730 b′. Accordingly, the diffraction members 740 a–740 d are suspended on the substrate 710.
As well, the diffraction members 740 a–740 d are separated from and parallel to each other as shown in FIG. 7B, which illustrates the plane view of the light modulator having the digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention. They have reflective surfaces capable of reflecting incident light on upper sides thereof.
The central parts 732 a–732 d of the diffraction members 740 a–740 d have protrusions 742 a–742 d formed on lower surfaces thereof so that each protrusion is longitudinally provided on an edge of the lower surface of each central part.
Each of the protrusions 742 a–742 d, which is comprised of an extended hexahedral piece, is attached to a side edge of the lower surface of the central part 732 a –732 d of the diffraction member 740 a–740 d.
In this regard, the protrusions 742 a–742 d are not in contact with the substrate 710, but suspended on the substrate. This is apparent in FIG. 7C which illustrates a front view of the light modulator having the digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention.
From FIG. 7D, which illustrates an exploded perspective view of the light modulator having the digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, and FIG. 7E, it can be seen that the protrusions 742 a–742 d are attached to the central parts 732 a–732 d so that each protrusion is longitudinally provided on the edge of each central part.
FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate diffraction. In FIGS. 8A and 8B, a voltage (Vo) is applied to the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b, but an electric potential is not applied to the diffraction members 740 c, 740 d (V=0 V). FIG. 8A is a sectional view taken along the line A–A′ of FIG. 7B, which shows the movement of the first external parts 741 a–741 d. Referring to FIG. 8A, if the voltage is applied to the lower electrodes 720 a, 720 b and the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b, the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b are drawn downward by an electrostatic force. At this time, the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b incline because of the protrusions 742 a, 742 b. This can be seen from FIG. 8B. In FIG. 8B, when the central parts 732 a, 732 b are drawn downward, the protrusions 742 a, 742 b come into contact with the substrate 710, thus edges of the central parts 732 a, 732 b, on which the protrusions 742 a, 742 b are not formed, come into contact with the substrate 710, thereby inclining the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b. With respect to this, if reflective surfaces of the central parts 732 a, 732 b of the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b incline at an angle of multiples of λ/4 when a wavelength of incident light is λ, diffraction occurs. In FIG. 8B, reference numeral 1 denotes incident light, and reference numeral 3 denotes diffracted light.
Supposing that a potential difference (Vo) is applied between the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b and the lower electrode 720, the electrostatic force is expressed by the following Equation 1.
F = ɛ AV o 2 2 d 2 Equation 1
wherein, ∈ is a dielectric constant of air between the lower electrode 720 and the diffraction members 740 a–740 d, A is an area to which the electrostatic force is applied, and d is a distance between the diffraction members 740 a –740 d and the lower electrode 720.
From Equation 1, it can be seen that when the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b are moved toward the substrate 710, acting as an insulator, by the electrostatic force, the electrostatic force (F) is increased. If the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b have an equivalent spring constant (k), the force is expressed by the following Equation 2. From Equation 2, it can be seen that the voltage (Vo) is not linear to a displacement (d).
F = ɛ AV o 2 2 d 2 = k ( d o - d ) Equation 2
wherein, do is an initial value of d, that is, the distance when the voltage is not applied. From the above Equation, it can be seen that, when the voltage (Vo) is higher than a value calculated by the following Equation 3, in Equation 2, d is a negative number, which is impossible in practice. Therefore, when the voltage is applied at a level higher than the value calculated by Equation 3, instability occurs between the electrostatic electrodes, thus the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b come into contact with the insulating substrate 710 as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B. With respect to this, as shown in FIG. 8A, the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b may be designed so as not to come into contact with the lower electrode 720 by appropriately controlling the rigidity thereof.
In FIG. 8B, the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b come into contact with the substrate 710 so that the diffraction members meet the substrate at a predetermined angle using the protrusion 742 a, 742 b on the edges of the diffraction members. In this regard, it is possible to precisely control the heights of the protrusions 742 a, 742 b so as to increase a path difference between light beams reflecting from inclined surfaces and to cause destructive interference between light beams reflected from the inclined surfaces. In FIG. 8B, incident light 1 radiated on the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b is compared to incident light radiated on the diffraction members 740 c, 740 d in an undeformed state.
When light is radiated on the diffraction members 740 a, 740 b, the path difference between light beams reflected-from the diffraction members 740 a and 740 b is ½, thus diffracted light 3 is formed. On the other hand, when light is radiated on the diffraction members 740 c, 740 d, only reflected light 2 is formed, without diffraction. As described above, in the light modulator having the micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, the two or more diffraction members, to which the same electric potential is applied, are integrated into one diffraction unit (i.e. a pixel), and a plurality of diffraction units are further integrated, thus it is possible to produce a multichannel light modulator which is capable of generating digital optical signals of diffraction or reflection according to a driving signal.
V o = 4 kd o 3 27 ɛ A Equation 3
Referring to FIG. 9A, an insulating substrate 10 is prepared. In FIG. 9B, a metal layer 300, which is to be used as a lower electrode, is deposited, and in FIG. 9 c, the metal layer 300 is patterned to form the lower electrode 301.
As shown in FIG. 9D, a thin film 100 (poly-Si, polymer, or the like), which is to be used as a sacrificial layer and a supporting part, is deposited. As shown in FIG. 9E, small holes 400 are formed by etching so as to form protrusions, thereby providing a thin layer 101 to be used as a supporting member.
As shown in FIG. 9F, a structural thin layer 200 made of rigid metal, such as Pt, Mo, or W, is layered, and as shown in FIG. 9G, patterning is conducted to create diffraction members 201, 202. Finally, as shown in FIG. 9H, the sacrificial layer is etched while the supporting member 102 remains, thereby suspending the diffraction members 201, 202 on the substrate.
Since the diffraction members function to reflect light, a metal layer 500 having high reflectivity is further deposited, thereby completing a device.
Meanwhile, in the above description, the lower electrode is separately used. However, the substrate may be used as the lower electrode.
As described above, a digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention causes a pull-in phenomenon in a diffraction member and an insulating substrate due to unstable electrostatic driving between the diffraction member and a lower electrode. Accordingly, it is possible to form a very uniform diffraction pattern that has a level of uniformity of the substrate.
Furthermore, in the digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention, residual oscillation of a structure does not occur after it is operated, thus it is possible to rapidly produce a digital diffraction device.
Additionally, the digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention is characterized in that it can simultaneously modulate many light beams having different wavelengths by controlling an incident angle of light when it constructs a module in conjunction with an optical system.
Although a light modulator having a digital micro blaze diffraction grating according to the present invention has been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
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U.S. Classification 359/292, 359/224.1, 359/573, 359/298, 359/291, 359/569, 359/295, 359/318, 359/566, 359/571
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:HONG, YOON SHIK;SHIN, DONG HO;HAN, SEUNG HEON;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:016479/0581