A surface micromachined light modulator based on vanadium dioxide array

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

7-19-2004

Abstract

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin film undergoes a semiconductor-to-metal phase transition at about 68 °C, which is accompanied with an abrupt transformation from a transparent semiconductor phase to a highly reflective metallic state. To exploit this phase-transition related thermo-optical switching, low-thermal-mass pixels suspended with long and thin legs were micromachined above substrate to achieve good thermal isolation between pixels and fast enough switching speed. VO2 thin film was fabricated by e-beam evaporation of vanadium metal film followed by oxidation. It exhibits a grain structure and undergoes a phase transition at 65°C. A surface micromachining process was developed to realize a light modulator in 64 × 64 array. The testing results demonstrate the light switching and modulation ability of the VO2 array. Further study shows that acceptable optical properties have been maintained throughout the micromachining process.

Identifier

3042786260 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems MEMS

ISSN

10846999

First Page

57

Last Page

60

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