3.2.-OEMS - Displays and Optical Communications

Máster Universitario en Ingeniería de Sistemas
Electrónicos y Aplicaciones - MISEA
Microsystems and Nanoelectronics

SESSION 4: Optical MEMs for displays and optical Communication.
MISEA http://www.uc3m.es/misea
U C 3 M Microsystems and Nanoelectronics 1
Session 4: Optical MEMs for displays and optical
Communication.
A. Optical MEMs for Displays

a. Chronology of optical MEMs for displays.
b. Digital micromirror devices (DMDs).
c. Grating Light Valve Displays (GLVs).
d. Digital Micro-shutters (DMS).
e. Laser scanning displays (LSDs).
B. Optical MEMs for Optical Communication.
MEMs-based optical switches.
 N  N cross connects (OXC).
 Wavelength-selective switches (WSS).
MEMs-based optical interconnects.
 Fiber-based optical interconnects.
 Free-space optical interconnects.
A. Optical MEMs for Displays
Chronology of optical MEMs for displays.
 Digital micromirror devices (DMDs). 1987

 Grating Light Valve Displays (GLVs). 1997
 Digital Micro-shutters (DMS). 2007
 Laser scanning displays (LSDs). 2008
Digital micromirror devices (DMDs).
Digital micromirror device (DMD) technology from Texas Instruments (1987).
Typical structure
DMD PEFORMANCE:
 DMD ELEMENT:  Mirror size 14–17 m.
 Two bistable micromirrors:  Switching time is 20  s.
- ON state:
- Positive tilt of the mirror (+10º).
- The light aligns to the projection lens.
- OFF state:
- Negative tilt of the mirror (-10º).
- The light aligns to the light absorber.
 The tilt is electrostatically controlled by a dual
CMOS memory elements and clocking pulse in
digital driving mode.
 The DMD is suspended on a CMOS chip by a tiny,
hidden torsional hinge mount.
 DIGITAL LIGHT PROCESSING (DLP) STRUCTURE:

 It is a two-dimensional array of DMDs (can be over a
million).
DMD element and SEM micrograph of a top-down view of a DMD
 Each DMD corresponds to a displayed image pixel to micromirror array. (Pictures courtesy from Texas instruments).
form projected images.
Digital Light Processing (DLPs).
The digital light processing (DLPTM) from Texas
Instruments for projection displays (1996).
DLP PEFORMANCE:
Basic working principle  Up to 1024 gray levels.
 GRAYSCALE GENERATION:  16.7 million colors for 1-DLP architecture.
 It is a non-scanning-based MEMs display.  35 trillion colors for 3-DLP architecture.
 Bistable operation mode: Electrostatically
actuation by a PWM scheme controlling
each mirror “ON state” time during a frame.
 By temporal dither to form gray images.
 COLOR: Two options to form color image:
 Spatial color: filters (R, G, B).
 Sequential color: color wheel (R, G, B).
 ARCHITECTURES:
 One DLP chip.
 3-DLP structure.
Applications
Projection system based on DLP™ technology (Courtesy from
 Large cinema projection systems, TVs Texas instruments). In press, J. Ma, “Advanced MEMS-based
technologies and displays”, Displays (2014).
 Table-top projectors.
 Handheld mobile displays (DLP Pico).
 Small head-mounted displays.
Grating Light Valve Displays (GLVs).
The grating light valve (GLV) is also a digital projection display
technology from Silicon Light Machines Corp. (1997)
Typical structure
GRATING LIGHT VALVE (GLV) PIXEL:
 A diffraction grating: an array of parallel rows of movable
ribbons mounted on a silicon substrate.
With a 4 – 6 aluminum-coated beams made by SiN.
 Movable ribbons are pulled down electrically:
A voltage applied between the ribbon and the bottom electrodes:
 DARK STATE:
− No driving applied. All the ribbons are in the same plane.
− The light is reflected away from the projector (like a mirror).
− Pixel produces a dark spot.
 BRIGHT STATE:
− Driving applied. Ribbons in one pixel are pulled down.
− A square-notch diffraction grating is formed.
The phase of light is modulated and diffract the light of 1st Typical GLV pixel structure showing alternate
order to the projector’s optical path. ribbons being addressed. (Courtesy of Silicon
Light Machines Corp.)
− Pixel shows a bright state.
GLV DEVICE:
 It is built with an 2D array of GLV pixels that are separately controllable.
Grating Light Valve Displays (GLVs).
Basic working principle a)
 GRAYSCALE GENERATION:
 The pixel operation is bistable.
 By temporal dither: If the up and down ribbon switching is GLV Module
made fast enough, the modulation of diffraction produces a
grayscale generation. (Switching time is 20 ns).
 COLOR: To form color image:
a) Field sequential color with a RGB color wheel.
b) By sub-pixel color (spatial multiplexing) using "tuned"
diffraction gratings can create color-oriented sub-pixels.
A simple color display can be built using a single light
c) By a three set of GLVs. source, single GLV, and rotating a RGB color wheel.
b)
c)
By using different spacing between ribbons,

A three-GLV color display solution
one can create color-oriented sub-pixels.
Digital micro-shutter (DMSTM).
Transmissive display based on digital microshutter (DMS) is MEMS-
based technology from The Pixtronix / Qualcomm. (2007)
Typical structure
 MEM DIGITAL MICROSHUTTER:

 It consists of a shutter suspended by 4
springs and actuated by 4 zipper
actuators.
 4 Electrostatic zipper actuators.
They require relatively low voltage
(compared to parallel plate or comb drive)
. for delivering a large stroke. View of a typical 4-springs DMS shutter.
(Courtesy from Pixtronix / Qualcomm)
 It is operated in a digital “on-off” mode. It
can be moved horizontally in the open DMS PEFORMANCE:
 Shutter speed operation: 200s
or close states. It can operate at about
200s. Example of dimensions of a
typical DMS shutter. (Courtesy
 Multiple slots are used to reduce the from Pixtronix / Qualcomm)
required stroke and thus the voltage

required (20V).
Typical structure
 THE DMSTM DISPLAY CONCEPT:
It consists of some layers from the top to the bottom:
 A TFT backplane.
 A MEM layer of microshutters fabricated on the top.
 An aperture plate.
It has apertures located in front of each pixel.
 A backlight unit.
It has one or more tri-color RGB LEDs.
Basic working principle Structure of a DMSTM display. (Courtesy from
Pixtronix / Qualcomm)
 GRAYSCALE GENERATION:
 There are etched slots on the TFT-backplane and the
aperture plate.
 The DMS shutter serves as light valve for each slot by
controlling light going through the panel or being blocked Aperture
by the shutter (open/close). plate
 Each pixel requires multiple shutter movements for
grayscale generation.
 LIGHT RECYCLING:
 The aperture plate and backlight combine to form a
waveguide that sends the light through the apertures located in Display module illustrating
each pixel to achieve more optical transmission efficiency. core components and light recycling.
(Courtesy from Pixtronix / Qualcomm)
Basic working principle

 COLOR:
 The backlight is formed with one or more
tri-color RGB LEDs.
 Field sequential color (FSC) driving
scheme: The groups of red, green and
blue LED’s are driven sequentially and
color mixing occurs in the time domain.
DMS-based display architecture. (Courtesy from Pixtronix / Qualcomm)
Advantages
 Compared with LCDs, no color filter and polarizer are needed since digital field
sequential is employed.
 The usage of backlight is highly efficient and even better when recycling light is
obtained from the reflective surface of the aperture plate (AP).
 The shutter speed can be operated at about 200s.
 Wide color gamut, low power operation, high contrast ratio, and high speed field
sequential color driving.
Laser scanning displays (LSDs).
The laser scanning display (LSD) is a technology based on scanned beam displays
for mobile projectors or picoprojectors offered by Microvision, Inc. and Fraunhofer
Institute of Photonic Microsystems. (2008)
Typical structure DMD PEFORMANCE:
 Mirror diameter 1-1.5mm
 MEM SCANNING MIRROR DIE: Horizontal scanning
 A gimbal suspended mirror. flexure
It is capable of biaxial rotations using Only two
electromagnetic actuation. drive lines Piezoresistive
strain sensor
 Horizontal and vertical torsional springs.
 A spiral electrical coil.
It is on the moving gimbal frame.
It has just two drive lines.
 A permanent magnet.
It provides a magnetic field to properly excite both
scan axes.
It is oriented at near 45° to the scan axes.
Mirror
 Some piezoresistive strain sensors. Multi-turn spiral coil
on gimbal frame
The position feedback is implemented with them. Vertical scanning
flexure
MEMS scanning mirror die and detail of PZR
strain sensor used for vertical scan position feedback.
Basic working principle of a LSD
LSD PEFORMANCE:
 Horizontal scan angle = 22.5º
 SCANNING TECNIQUE:  Vertical scan angle = 16.9º
1. One drive signal to create the biaxial motion.
An electrical current applied to the MEM coil.
It contains the superposition of two waveforms to excite
both the vertical and horizontal motions:
a) The horizontal fast-scan is a sinusoidal 18kHz
(the resonant frequency of the horizontal mirror motion)
a) The vertical slow-scan is a sawtooth waveform 60Hz
(the refresh rate)
The composite drive waveform signal
2. The electrical current generates a magnetic
torque on the gimbal frame with components along
both axes of rotation.
3. The key of the operation is the interaction between
the in-plane current and the in-plane magnetic field
(from the magnet), to properly excite both scan axes.
4. One single MEM is used to scan and modulate one
a) Horizontal fast-scan b) Vertical quasi-static-scan
color laser beam. (mirror rotation) (gimbal frame rotation)
(18kHz) (60Hz)
5. The image is drawn on the screen pixel by pixel.
Basic working principle of the projector
 IPM (integrated photonics module):

 It is the opto-mechnical core of the scanner.
 It is coupled with video processing and
laser drive electronics.
 The three lasers are simultaneously
IPM MODULE PERFORMANCE:
scanned for all the pixels, therefore the  To scan millions of pixels at 60 Hz.
laser duty cycle is high.  Active video scan cone of 43.2° by 24.3º.
Advantages
 There is only one MEM instead of a 2D DMD

array.
 There is only one drive signal input to MEMS.
 The electrical efficiency is higher than DLP
or liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) displays. PicoP Integrated Photonics Module (IPM)
scan engine (Courtesy from Microvision).
Heading towards the applications of LSDs
 Common displays (cell phones, iPods, PDAs) show

information just in a few square inches (small images).
 Moreover, projectors displays large images.

Microvision-HUD-concept_preview
 Connecting both ideas, the so-called scanned pico-projectors

are conceived:
 To project a full-size image onto whatever is near at
hand: the wall, your shirt, or a piece of paper.
 To remain in focus. One particular advantage of using
laser sources is that the image is in focus at any
projection distance with any adjustment.
 Pico-projectors are paying close attention in many applications:
 Portable devices: Mobility but also visibility.
 HUD (head up displays).
 Automotive (for increasing safety in and around the
vehicle).
 Impromptu business presentations, scientific The concept of The Cicret Bracelet: You can
visualizations. make your skin your new touchscreen. Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J7GpVQCfms
B. Optical MEMs for Optical
Communication.
MEMs-based optical switches.

 N  N cross connects (OXC).
 Wavelength-selective switches (WSS).
MEMs-based optical switches. Advantages
MEMs components enable:
Operation principle of switching  Low crosstalk.
 High extinction ratio.
 ONE MICROMIRROR:
 Low polarization dependence.
 When no voltage is applied, light is
 Low insertion losses, etc.
directed from fiber A to fiber B by a 45º
reflector.
 When the voltage is applied, the mirror
is rotated clockwise. Hence, the light is
directed from fiber A to fiber C to realize
switching.
 ARRAY OF MICROMIRRORS:
 Operation expanded to a 1  N switch
with a proper micromirror with many
stable positions.
The operation principle of a 1x2 optical switch.
N  N optical switches
 They are often called optical cross connects (OXC).
 MEMS OXCs are roughly divided into two categories according to their optical system
configurations:
 2D OXCs: All the components take their places on a 2D plane.
 3D OXCs: Components are deployed over the entire 3D space.
N  N Optical cross connects (OXC).
N  N 2D OXC Requirements
 Requires a 2D array of N  N micromirrors.
collimator array
Linear N fiber
 Each mirror only needs to be a dual state
component: Reflect light / light pass.
 Scaling of a 2D optical switches: The array size
2D N  N switches first
(linear dimension of the chip) increase as the demonstrated by AT&T
square of the number of inputs/outputs, N2. The (1999).
practical size limit for a commercially available Linear N fiber

collimator array
viable device is measured in cms, thus the Architecture of a 2D optical cross connect.
maximum switch array is less than 100100.
N  N 3D OXC Requirements
 Requires a total of only 2N micromirrors (2 chips,
each with N mirrors).
 Each mirror has to scan continuously about two
orthogonal axes.
 The 3D architecture can potentially achieve a larger
number of ports; larger N.
Architecture of a 3D optical cross connect.
Example 1: Free-Space Fiber-Optic Switches Based on
MEMS vertical torsion mirrors
 The silicon-based 2  2 optical fiber switch is
constructed using four fibers with ball lenses and
four vertical torsion mirrors.
 The micro ball lens collimates the light from the
fiber and increases the working distance.
 The fibers and ball lenses are inserted in V grooves
Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the
and micro pits. vertical torsion mirror.
 Light is reflected / transmitted (mirror is moved out).  Mirror plate: 200m, 150m, 1.5m.
 Surface of the mirror: 0.1m thick gold.
 Voltage = 80 V  Switching angles of 45º.
 Switching time (< 400 s).
Cross-section view of the package: a mirror

chip placed on Si submount and covered.
Hybrid packaging:
 Surface-micromachined mirrors
Free-space fiber-optic switches based on
MEMS vertical torsion mirrors.  Bulk-micromachined silicon submount
S.-S. Lee, et. al, Free-Space Fiber-Optic Switches Based on MEMS Vertical Torsion
MISEA http://www.uc3m.es/misea Mirrors. Journal of Lightwave Technology, 17 (1), 7-13 (1999).

Wavelength-selective switches (WSS).
Typical structure
 Building blocks: 1  N wavelength-
selective switches (WSS) with:
 Input and output fibers.
 A micro-lens array.
 A condenser lens.
 A MEMS micromirror array.
 A resolution lens.
 A diffraction grating.
MEMS 1  N wavelength-selective switch. (Dan M. Marom et al., 2005)

Basic working principle
 A WSS is able to route different wavelength channels independently in a WDM
(Wavelength-division multiplexing) network.
1. The condenser lens focus on the focal plane B the input beams emerging from the
linear fiber array.
2. The resolution lens and the diffraction grating separate different wavelength channels.
3. The beam of each wavelength channel is then focused on a corresponding mirror.
4. The MEMS mirror array achieves wavelength-selective switching. It adjusts its tilt angle
and directs the light of this particular wavelength to the desired output fiber port.
 This setups can also be used as N  1 wavelength-selective switches due to the reciprocity
of light propagation.
Example 2: Low-voltage, large-scan angle MEMS analog
micromirror arrays with hidden vertical comb-drive
actuators
Performance
 Hah et al. (2004) reported a low-voltage analog
micromirror array for WSS (Wavelength Selective
Switch).
 More efficient actuation has been obtained using
vertical comb drive actuators.
 A high fill factor (98%) is achieved along the array
direction  The mechanical structures (comb-drives
and torsion springs) are completely covered by the
mirror.
 Low-operating voltage (<6V)  Large continuous
scan angles (23.6º).
 Rise / fall times: 120s / 380s.
 High resonant frequency (3.4 kHz).
 The excellent stability of the mirror (±0.00085º). (a) Schematic and (b) SEM of the analog micromirror
with hidden vertical comb drive actuators .
 Insertion loss variation of < ±0.0035 dB over 3.5 h. D. Hah, et. al, “Low-voltage, large-scan angle MEMS analog
micromirror arrays with hidden vertical comb-drive actuators”
J. Microelectromech. Syst., vol. 13 (2) 279–289 (2004).
B. Optical MEMs for Optical
Communication.

 Fiber-based optical interconnects.
 Free-space optical interconnects.
Evolution of computing
 Continuous minituarization of transistors.

 Increase of computing capability: higher clock
speed, cache size, develop of multicore architectures,
etc.
 The complexity of processors has increased and
require high speed interconnects to fast access to:
memory, cores and I/O devices.
 As CMOS technology is scaled, it become
increasingly difficult for conventional copper
interconnects to satisfy the requirements of: delay,
power, bandwidth and noise.
 On-chip optical multichannel interconnections are
considered as potential candidates to replace
electrical interconnections.
ELECTRICAL
OPTICAL
INTERCONNECTS
INTERCONNECTS
Drawbacks
 Copper-based cables, limited the Main advantages

maximum frequency of operation
(degrades above 1 GHz) due to: Solve performance requirements of
data processors.
• Ringing (oscillations of signals).
 Higher bandwidth (10–100 Gbit/s).
• Increased signal latency (time
delays).  Low crosstalk noise.
• Crosstalk noise.  Small frequency dependent loss.
 Frequency dependent attenuation.
Drawbacks
 Problem of impedance matching.
 Electric power consumption.  Not compatible with manufacturing
 Heat dissipation. processes and assembly methods
used in semiconductor industry.
 Electromagnetic interference.
OPTICAL INTERCONNECTS
Guided-wave Free-space
optical interconnects optical interconnects
There is a physical medium through which Multiple light beams (arrays of beams) can
the signal flows. Two approaches: go in and out of the chips. For focusing on
 Multimode fiber (MMF) ribbons. the scale of micrometre size, ordinary
 Polymer waveguides. lenses are used.
Advantages: Advantages:
 No crosstalk inside the optical fiber.  To handle a large number of arrays of
 Higher bandwidth. beams.
 It can operate at a higher data  To generate (by lithography), some
transmission throughput (up 1Tbit/s). regular and complex optical elements:
 Reduced loss due to signal attenuation. • Arrays of spots from a single laser
 Small size and light-weight. beam.
• Interconnection patterns.
Drawbacks:  Flexibility &high-speed simultaneously.
 Non-reconfigurable point-to-point
interconnections. Drawbacks:
 Alignment between optical components
are more critical.
Fiber-based optical interconnects.
Operation principle
OPTICAL MODULATOR:
• Converts the electrical signal into optical signal according the bit sequence in
electrical signal.
• Current optical modulation techniques are based on some effects: thermo-optic,
electro-optic, electro-absorption and plasma dispersion.
• Refractive index or absorption properties of optical medium are changed in function
of the electrical signal. This variation causes phase or amplitude modulation of
optical signal.
Example 3: A fiber-based optical interconnect module based
on silicon optical benches with micro-reflectors
Components and technology
 Assembly template: Patterned and

etched Silicon Optical Bench (SiOB).
 Transmitting part:
4-channel VCSEL array flip-chip
bonding.
 45º micro-reflectors with a gold
coating (anisotropic wet etching).
 A micromachined multi-channel V-
groove array engraved on the SiOB
(to hold optical fibers).
Schematic diagrams of the proposed optical
 Multimode fibers: Large numerical interconnect module based on the SiOBs.
(a) Side-view drawing.
apertures achieve higher coupling (b) Top-view drawing.
efficiencies (without focusing
microlenses), in a short-distance
systems.
H-L. Hsiao, et al, “Compact and passive-
 Receiving part: alignment 4-channel × 2.5-Gbps optical
interconnect modules based on silicon optical
4-channel PD array flip-chip bonding. benches with 45° micro-reflectors”, Optics
SEM picture of VCSEL flip-chip bonded Express, 17 (26), 24250-24260 (2009).
MISEA http://www.uc3m.es/misea on the top mesa of the SiOB.

Example 3: A fiber-based optical interconnect module based
on silicon optical benches with micro-reflectors
Optical interconnect performance
 Compact optical interconnect module of
5 x 5 mm2.
 4-channel at data rate of 2.5 Gbps/
channel.
 Coupling efficiencies of: (a) Side-view photo of the 45° micro-reflector. (b) AFM measurement of
the surface profile for the 45° micro-reflector before/after a gold coating.
 In the transmitting part (VCSEL-to-MMF):
−5.65 dB.
 in the receiving part (MMF-to-PD): −1.98
dB.
 Surface profile for the 45° micro-reflector with a
RMS surface roughness less than 20 nm
(better than λ/10, requirement of optical mirror
flatness).
 Open optical eyes diagrams are
demonstrated for the transmitting and receiving
parts.
 Optical crosstalk between adjacent channels
is verified less than -30 dB.
MISEA http://www.uc3m.es/misea Eye-diagram results for (a) transmitting part and (b) receiving parts.

Example 4: High-Speed reconfigurable Free-Space Card-to-
Card optical interconnect Ke Wang, et. al. “High-Speed Reconfigurable Free-Space Card-
to-Card Optical Interconnects”, IEEE Photonics Journal, 4 (5)
1407 – 1419 (2012)
Components and technology
An optical interconnect module:

 Each module at different
position of the cards to avoid
blockage problem.
 One VCSEL array.
 Two microlens arrays (to
collimate the optical beam from
VCSEL).
 Two MEMS-based steering
micromirror arrays (to
dinamically change the data
routes from a specific A card-to-card optical interconnect architecture.
transmitting card to a receiving Performance
card).
 One photodetector array.  Card-to-card distance: 30 cm. If divergence is reduced, the
maximum allowed card-to-card distance can be extended.
 A bit error rate (BER) of 10-6. BER increases with the
distance.
SUMMARY
 Application of MEM technology to displays is a relative new concept. Since Texas

Instruments launch the first DMD-based projection display product (1996), optical MEM
technologies have been extensively studied both in academia and industry.
 In this session, two of the pioneer display technologies (DMDs and GLVs) based on MEM
technology and two of the most recent technologies (DMSs and LSDs) are detailed.
 MEMs technology for Optical Communication is able to implement switching, wavelength

division multiplexing routing, and/or optical cross connection.
 In this session some optical connecting devices based on MEM components, are roughly
described. Particularly, features of some real applictiond of MEMs-based optical switches
and MEMs-based optical interconnects, have been addressed and discussed.
RERERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Practical MEMS. Ville Kaajakari. Small Gear Publishing (2009)
 Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems. M. E. Motamedi. SPIE (2005)
 MEMS: A Practical Guide of Design, Analysis, and Applications. J. Korvink, O. Paul. Springer
(2006)

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Máster Universitario en Ingeniería de Sistemas

Electrónicos y Aplicaciones - MISEA

Microsystems and Nanoelectronics

A. Optical MEMs for Displays

 Digital micromirror devices (DMDs). 1987

 DIGITAL LIGHT PROCESSING (DLP) STRUCTURE:

By using different spacing between ribbons,

 MEM DIGITAL MICROSHUTTER:

required stroke and thus the voltage

Basic working principle

DMS-based display architecture. (Courtesy from Pixtronix / Qualcomm)

Basic working principle of the projector

 IPM (integrated photonics module):

 There is only one MEM instead of a 2D DMD

Heading towards the applications of LSDs

 Common displays (cell phones, iPods, PDAs) show

 Moreover, projectors displays large images.

 Connecting both ideas, the so-called scanned pico-projectors

MEMs-based optical switches.

 Requires a 2D array of N  N micromirrors.

practical size limit for a commercially available Linear N fiber

Cross-section view of the package: a mirror

U C 3 M Microsystems and Nanoelectronics 19

MEMS 1  N wavelength-selective switch. (Dan M. Marom et al., 2005)

MEMs-based optical interconnects.

 Continuous minituarization of transistors.

 Copper-based cables, limited the Main advantages

 Assembly template: Patterned and

MISEA http://www.uc3m.es/misea on the top mesa of the SiOB.

U C 3 M Microsystems and Nanoelectronics 27

U C 3 M Microsystems and Nanoelectronics 28

An optical interconnect module:

 Application of MEM technology to displays is a relative new concept. Since Texas

 MEMs technology for Optical Communication is able to implement switching, wavelength

 Practical MEMS. Ville Kaajakari. Small Gear Publishing (2009)

 Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems. M. E. Motamedi. SPIE (2005)

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