AVS 50th International Symposium
    Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Tuesday Sessions
       Session MM-TuM

Paper MM-TuM9
Nanomechanical Characterization of Digital Micromirror Devices

Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 11:00 am, Room 320

Session: Development and Characterization of MEMS and NEMS Materials
Presenter: G. Wei, The Ohio State University
Authors: G. Wei, The Ohio State University
B. Bhushan, The Ohio State University
J. Jacobs, Texas Instruments, Inc.
Correspondent: Click to Email
The Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) lies at the heart of Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing@super TM@ (DLP@super TM@) technology, enabling the next generation of bright, lightweight projection displays. The DMD comprises a surface-micromachined array of up to 2.07 million mirrors fabricated on top of an SRAM array. The nanomechanical properties of the thin-film structures formed in the manufacturing process are important to the performance of the DMD. In this paper, the nanomechanical characterization of various materials used in the manufacture of the DMD has been performed using a nanoindentation technique. Properties including Young's modulus, hardness, scratch resistance, fatigue, and fracture toughness of the corresponding materials have been measured and analyzed. The impact of these properties on mirror performance is discussed.