CMOS Compatible Fabrication Processes for the Digital Micromirror Device

DLP (R) technology has been widely used in the display products since it was first introduced to the world in 1996 by Texas Instruments. Projectors powered by DLP (R) technology range from cinema projectors that light up large movie theater screens to palm-sized Pico projectors. The heart of the technology is the digital micromirror device (DMD) that features an addressable array of up to 8 million microscopic mirrors. DMDs are fabricated using standard semiconductor processing equipment. However due to the unique nature of MOEMS application and digital operation of the DMDs, special CMOS-compatible fabrication processes have been developed to produce highly reflective digital micromirrors with robust operation margin and long term reliability. This paper will present an overview of the fabrication processes of the DMDs.