Patent ID: 7249856

Claim:
A microelectrical mechanical structure (MEMS) optical display system, the system comprising: a source of illumination; a first lens to focus the illumination; a beam splitter to direct the illumination towards an array of MEMS devices, wherein the MEMS devices are controlled to reflect portions of the illumination back to the beam splitter, and wherein the beam splitter passes the reflected portions of illumination in a direction away from the source of illumination; and a display screen which displays the reflected portions of illumination; wherein a MEMS device is formed on a planar semiconductor substrate and comprises: a cantilevered flexible bimorph arm that is secured to the planar substrate, the bimorph arm being generally parallel to the planar substrate in the electrostatically activated state and extending out-of-plane from the planar substrate in the relaxed state; plural spaced-apart substrate electrodes secured to the substrate and positioned under and in alignment with the bimorph arm; and plural stand-off dimples extending between the bimorph arm and the substrate to hold the bimorph arm in spaced-apart relation to the substrate when the actuator is activated, the plural stand-off dimples being interdigitated with the plural substrate electrodes when the actuator is activated.