Altering temporal response of microelectromechanical elements
AssigneeIdc, LLC
InventorsManish Kothari, William J. Cummings
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Abstract
An array of movable elements is arranged on a substrate. Each element has a cavity and a movable member to move through the cavity. The pressure resistance of the elements varies, allowing actuation signals to be manipulated to activate elements with different pressure resistance at different levels of the actuation signal.
Claims35
An array of elements on a substrate, each element comprising:
- a cavity;
- and
- a movable member configured to move through the cavity, wherein the movable member of a first element has a first resistance to motion in a first state and the movable member of a second element has a second resistance to motion in the first state, and wherein the first resistance is different from the second resistance such that the first element and the second element have different actuation times.
A method of manufacturing an array of elements, the method comprising:
- forming movable members displaced from a substrate over a cavity such that a movable member of a first element has a first resistance to motion in a first state and the movable member of a second element has a second resistance to motion in the first state, wherein the first resistance is different from the second resistance such that the first element and the second element have different actuation times.
A method of operating an array of light modulator elements on a substrate arranged into subarrays as pixels, the method comprising:
- providing an actuation signal at a first level, thereby causing a first set of elements in the pixel to actuate thereby trapping gas between other elements in the pixel and the substrate;
- and
- providing an actuation signal at a second level, causing a second set of elements in the pixel to actuate according to a response time determined by the pressure resistance.
An array of interferometric modulators, each interferometric modulator comprising:
- a first layer;
- a second layer comprising a movable member, wherein the movable member further comprises holes to allow gas to escape when the movable member moves;
- and
- a cavity defined by the first and second layers,
- wherein the movable member is configured to move through the cavity in a direction substantially perpendicular to the first layer, and wherein the holes of a first interferometric modulator of the array have a first configuration and the holes of a second interferometric modulator of the array have a second configuration different from the first configuration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.