Patent ID: 8035883

Claim:
An electromechanical device comprising: a substrate; a light modulating element disposed on the substrate, the modulating element comprising an active area that displays data and a non-active area that does not display data, the modulating element further comprising a movable reflective layer and a non-movable partially reflective layer, at least a portion of the movable reflective layer and the non-movable partially reflective layer disposed in the active area of the modulating element, the movable layer configured to move between a driven state and an undriven state in response to a voltage applied to the modulating element; and an electrically-conductive mask disposed to mask the non-active area of the modulating element and minimize light reflected from the non-active area, the mask electrically coupled to the modulating element to provide one or more electrical paths for applying voltages to the modulating element, the mask comprising a non-movable reflective layer, a non-movable partially reflective layer, and an interferometric cavity defined by the reflective layer and the partially reflective layer.