Static and dynamic characterization of pull-in protected CMOS compatible poly-SiGe grating light valves

Grating light valve (GLV) display pixels are reflection type diffraction gratings consisting of electrostatically movable coplanar microbeams. Once actuated, the alternate movable beams deflect downwards which produces controlled diffraction of light creating bright and dark pixels in a display system. GLV displays provide a huge improvement in contrast ratio and resolution over other MOEMS devices. At the same time, compared to hybrid integration, post processing of MEMS monolithically on top of CMOS can lead to increased functionality, performance and reliability. Poly-SiGe structural layers can be deposited at low temperature (∼450 °C), allowing to retain the performance of underlying CMOS electronics though possessing the desired material properties for MEMS. Hence the aim of this work is to fabricate CMOS compatible poly-SiGe GLVs and to study their static and dynamic behavior. A novel process flow was developed regarding the deposition of thin poly-SiGe structures which is well within the maximum thermal range to retain the full functionality of the underlying CMOS circuitry. A contrast of over 1500:1 was obtained showing excellent optical response of the devices. The effect of squeeze film damping in determining the dynamic response of the GLVs is thoroughly investigated. Influence of variation in dimensional parameters on the settling time of the structures is discussed in detail. A minimum settling time of 2 μs was achieved for our devices. We also showed the analog gray scale nature of the GLVs. In addition, we also use the technique of mechanical stoppers to avoid accidental destruction of the devices because of the pull-in phenomenon.