EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Case Study 3:
Grating Light Valve (GLV)

Reference:

• Chapter 20 of Senturia
• http://www.siliconlight.com
• D. Bloom, “The Grating Light Valve: revolutionizing display technology,”
IS&T/SPIE Symposium on Electronic Science and Technology (2/12/97)
• D. T. Amm, R. W. Corrigan, “Grating Light Valve ä Technology: Update and
Novel Applications,” the Society for Information Display (SID) 1998
Symposium panel Reflective Light Valves (5/19/98)

M. C. Wu 1

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Tilting Micromirror and Grating Light

Valve

• Reflection Broadband • Diffraction Wavelength dependent

• Large displacement at mirror edge
– Typically µsec time response
• Angle modulated by voltage
• Intensity remains constant
• Displacement ~ 0.25 * wavelength
– Potential high speed operation
(10’s nsec)
• Angle fixed by lithography
• Diffracted intensity varied by voltage

M. C. Wu 2
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Grating Light Valve Technology

Silicon Light Machine
Beams up, reflection
a)

Silicon Nitride Beam

λ/2

b) Beams down, diffraction

Silicon Dioxide Posts

λ/4

• Simple fabrication process, “color” ready

• Small moving distance (1/4 wavelength), high mechanical
resonance frequency (> MHz), fast switching
• Stiction (?)
Ref: O. Solgaard, F.S.A. Sandejas, and D.M. Bloom, Optics Letters, Vol. 17, p.688, 1992.

M. C. Wu

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

GLV Diffraction Efficiency

Diffractivity of the first order as a

function of wavelength for an “up
pixel with 550 nm design
wavelnegth

Apte, Sandejas, Banyai, Bloom, Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, p. 1 (1994)

M. C. Wu 4
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Gap Closing Actuator

Increasing Voltage

Electrostatic Force

Force
Spring Force

2t/3 t

ε 0V 2
Area Displacement
Felec = ⋅
2 (t − z ) 2 Pull-in when the actuator moves
over 1/3 of the original gap
Fspring = −k ⋅ ( z − t ) spacing

M. C. Wu 5

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Transfer Characteristics of Gap-

Closing Actuator

Bistable
Regime
Displacement

Pull-in voltage

8⋅ k ⋅t3
VP =
Analog
27ε ⋅ Area
Regime

Voltage
Pull-in
Voltage

M. C. Wu 6
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Grating Light Valve Technology

Silicon Light Machine
http://www.siliconlight.com

• Mechanical resonance frequency > 1 MHz

• Switching time ~ 100 nsec

Ref: O. Solgaard, F.S.A. Sandejas, and D.M. Bloom, Optics Letters, Vol. 17, p.688, 1992.

M. C. Wu

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Color-Oriented Sub-pixels for GLV

M. C. Wu 8
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Head Mount Display using a GLV

and 3 LED’s

M. C. Wu 9

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Second-Generation GLV

M. C. Wu 10
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Second-Generation GLV

Compatible with CMOS process, can be built in standard CMOS foundry

M. C. Wu 11

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Photograph of GLV

M. C. Wu 12
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

On-Chip Encapsulation of GLV

M. C. Wu 13

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Switching Dynamics of GLV

M. C. Wu 14
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

High Efficiency Display Using One GLV

and a Color Wheel

• Collect both +1 and -1 diffraction

orders to increase the efficiency
(81%)
• Collecting more orders (±± 1 and ± 3)
90% efficiency

M. C. Wu 15

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

3-GLV Projection System for

Large Screen Display

M. C. Wu 16
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Stiction Issue

Restoring Force: Sticking Force:

Stress
FRe storing ∝ FSticking ∝  Contact Area 
Beam Length  

Self-Aligned Sidewall Rail:

• Engineering Strategy
– Increasing restoring force by
employing tensile stress in nitride film
– Minimize sticking force by
• Microscopic surface roughening
• Macroscopic surface patterning

M. C. Wu 17

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Tensile Stress in Doubly-Supported Beam

(Ref: Senturia, Chap. 9.6)

• When the beam is straight,

axial stresses produce no net
horizontal force
• As soon as the beam is bent,
there is a net vertical force on
the beam
– Additional restoring force

Euler Beam Equation: qL 32 EWH 3

k stress− free = =
d 4w d 2w w max L3
EI 4
− (σ 0WH ) 2 = q
dx dx
4N
k with− stress =
L cosh( k0 L 2) − 1
E: Young’s modulus
I : Bending moment
−2
w: Vertical displacement
2 k0 sinh( k 0 L 2)
x: Lateral displacement
σ0: Axial stress 12 N
W, H: width and thickness of beam N = σ 0WH k0 =
q: External load EWH 3
M. C. Wu 18
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Calculated Beam Displacement for

Various Axial Tensile Stress

Beam dimension: 2x2x100 um3

Higher Stress Higher Stiffness

M. C. Wu 19

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Effect of Stress on Switching Voltage

Apte, Sandejas, Banyai, Bloom, Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, p. 1 (1994)

M. C. Wu 20
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Third-Generation GLV

• Noncontact device
• Operate in analog regime
• Grey scale controlled by height
• 1-D array
• Use external scanner in the orthogonal
direction for 2-D display

M. C. Wu 21

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

GLV Pixels

• 25 um pixel
• 6 ribbons (tensile stressed SiN + Al)
• 100 um long
• 125 nm thick
• 650 nm air gap

Ribbon is longer than the pixel

creating 100% diffraction region
in the center

Total Pixel Efficiency = Diffraction efficiency (81%) *

Ribbon/Gap Fill Factor (95%) *
Aluminum reflectivity
= 70%
M. C. Wu 22
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Analog Response of GLV

Contrast of individual devices: 4000 to 1

M. C. Wu 23

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Dynamic Response of GLV

• Fast GLV response ~ 20 nsec

• Critical damping to minimize
ringing
– Proper design of drive
electronics circuits
– Ambient pressure
– Tuning GLV device
• 1 µsec switching time
– 1920 x 1080 HDTV
@ 96 Hz refresh rate

M. C. Wu 24
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

1-D GLV Array and Module

GLV Module with 4

custom IC’s for digital-
1-D GLV array on
to-analog conversion
6-inch wafer

1-D GLV chip

(1088 pixels)

M. C. Wu 25

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Linear GLV + 1D Scanning

K.E. Petersen (IBM) 1977 Silicon Light Machine

www.siliconlight.com

M. C. Wu 26
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Total Efficiency of Scanned Linear GLV

Display
• A color channel efficiency (40 to 50%) is product of
– Laser-to-GLV efficiency ~ 90%
– GLV pixel efficiency ~ 70%
– Projection lens throughput ~ 95%
– Scanner duty cycle ~ 90%
• Laser source is needed

M. C. Wu 27

EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Scanned Linear GLV Calibration

M. C. Wu 28
 EE M250B / MAE M282 / BME M250B

Telecommunications Applications

Dynamic Spectral Equalizer (DSE)

Reconfigurable Channel Blocking Filter Dynamic Gain Equalizer

M. C. Wu 29