Mirror array light valve
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsCarl Altman, Ernest Bassous, Carlton M. Osburn, Peter Pleshko, Arnold Reisman, Marvin B. Skolnik
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Abstract
A mirror array light valve is described comprising a transparent substrate, a plurality of post members arranged in a regular array on said substrate, and a plurality of deflectable square, rectangular, hexagonal or the like light-reflecting elements arranged in a regular array on said post members such that a post member is positioned under a corresponding corner of each element; methods for making the mirror array light valve are also described.
Claims2
A mirror array light valve comprising an array of deformable light reflected elements, each of said elements being supported by a post member extending from a base member, said post member being straight-sided, the joint between said post and said element being at the edge of the element and being confined to a small portion of said edge,
- said posts comprising hollow cylinders formed by a self-limiting etching process comprising forming a straight-sided hole in a silicon body, processing the interior surface of said hole to convert to material which is resistant to a silicon etch, and etching away the body of silicon not so converted by said processing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.