The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 04, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 30, 1999
Robert E. Meier, Dallas, TX (US);
James D. Huffman, Richardson, TX (US);
Richard L. Knipe, McKinney, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
An improved micromechanical device comprising a substrate (,), a deflectable member (,) suspended over the substrate (,), at least one spring-ring (,) supported above the substrate (,); and at least one address electrode (,) spaced apart from substrate (,). The spring-ring (,) resists deflection of the deflectable member (,) when the deflectable member (,) deflects to contact the spring-ring (,). By moving the address electrode (,) off the substrate level, the micromirror is much more immune to particle-caused short circuits, and a planer surface on which to fabricate the mirror (,) is provided without the need to utilize an inverse spacer layer.