EMS DEVICE HAVING A NON-ELECTRICALLY ACTIVE ABSORBER
This disclosure provides apparatus, systems and methods for an electromechanical systems (EMS) device having a non-electrically active absorber. In one aspect, the EMS device includes a stationary electrode over a substrate, a dielectric layer over the stationary electrode, an absorber over the dielectric layer, and a movable electrode over the absorber. The movable electrode is configured to move to a plurality of positions between the absorber and the movable electrode to define a plurality of gap heights. Furthermore, the absorber includes a non-electrically active material. In some implementations, the absorber can include an optical layer having a plurality of particles in an electrically insulating material.
1 . An electromechanical systems apparatus comprising:
a substrate;
a stationary electrode over the substrate;
a dielectric layer over the stationary electrode;
an absorber over dielectric layer, wherein the absorber includes an electrically insulating material; and
a movable electrode over the absorber, wherein the movable electrode is configured to move to a plurality of positions between the absorber and the movable electrode to define a plurality of gap heights.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the absorber includes an optical layer, wherein the optical layer includes a plurality of particles in the electrically insulating material and having an average diameter between about 5 nm and about 500 nm.
3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the particles include a metal coated with a dielectric coating.
4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein an average thickness of the dielectric coating is between about 1 nm and about 10 nm.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the absorber includes:
a first absorber layer including at least two regions separated laterally by a space across an absorber plane;
a dielectric film covering the first absorber layer and substantially filling the space; and
a second absorber layer over the dielectric film and above the space between the at least two regions of the first absorber layer.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the gap heights corresponds to a different reflected visible wavelength of the apparatus.
7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the absorber is part of an absorber stack, the absorber stack including:
an absorbing layer; and
an optical layer over the absorbing layer, wherein the optical layer is configured to attenuate energy of light corresponding to one or more wavelength ranges.
8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the substrate and the stationary electrode is substantially transparent.
9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus forms a display, the display including:
a processor that is configured to communicate with the display, the processor being configured to process image data; and
a memory device that is configured to communicate with the processor.
10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:
a driver circuit configured to send at least one signal to the display; and
a controller configured to send at least a portion of the image data to the driver circuit.
11 . The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:
an image source module configured to send the image data to the processor, wherein the image source module comprises at least one of a receiver, transceiver, and transmitter.
12 . The apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising:
an input device configured to receive input data and to communicate the input data to the processor.
13 . An electromechanical systems apparatus comprising:
a substrate, wherein the substrate is substantially transparent;
a first electrode over the substrate, wherein the first electrode is substantially transparent;
a first dielectric layer over the first electrode;
an absorber over the first electrode, wherein the absorber is configured to at least partially absorb visible light; and
a movable electrode over the absorber and configured to move across a gap between the movable electrode and the absorber by electrostatic actuation between the movable electrode and the first electrode.
14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the absorber includes an optical layer, the optical layer including a plurality of particles having an average diameter between about 5 nm and about 500 nm.
15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the particles are coated with a dielectric coating having a thickness between about 1 nm and about 10 nm.
16 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the optical layer includes an electrically insulating material, the plurality of particles in the electrically insulating material and the particles including at least one of: an oxide, a fluoride, and a metal.
17 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the absorber includes:
a first absorber layer including at least two regions separated laterally by a space across an absorber plane;
a dielectric film covering the first absorber layer and substantially filling the space; and
a second absorber layer over the dielectric film and above the space between the at least two regions of the first absorber layer.
18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein each of the first and the second absorber layer include a metal and each have a thickness between about 4 nm and about 20 nm.
19 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the at least two regions of the first absorber layer includes four regions separated by the space, wherein the space extends orthogonally in vertical and horizontal directions through a center of the absorber plane.
20 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein a distance across the gap is between about 15% and about 45% of a distance between the movable electrode and the first electrode when the movable electrode is in an unactuated position.
21 . The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:
a second dielectric layer over the movable electrode;
a second electrode over the second dielectric layer, wherein the movable electrode is configured to move across another gap between the movable electrode and the second dielectric layer by electrostatic actuation between the movable electrode and the second electrode.
22 . A method of manufacturing an electromechanical systems apparatus, the method comprising:
providing a substrate;
forming a stationary electrode over the substrate;
forming a dielectric layer over the stationary electrode,
forming an absorber over the substrate, wherein the absorber includes an electrically insulating material; and
forming a movable electrode over the absorber, wherein the movable electrode is configured to move to a plurality of positions between the absorber and the movable electrode to define a plurality of gap heights.
23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the absorber includes an optical layer, wherein the optical layer includes a plurality of particles in the electrically insulating material and having an average diameter between about 5 nm and about 500 nm.
24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the particles include a metal coated with a dielectric coating, the dielectric coating having an average thickness between about 1 nm and about 10 nm.
25 . The method of claim 22 , wherein forming the absorber includes:
forming an absorbing layer over the dielectric layer; and
forming an optical layer over the absorbing layer, wherein the optical layer is configured to attenuate an energy of light corresponding to one or more wavelength ranges.