Electrostatic Micro Mirror Array with Batch-Fabricated Torsion Beam of Silicon Nanowire

A new design of arrayed micro mirror device for a high performance spatial light modulator of high resonant frequency, large deflection angle with high mechanical reliability has been proposed. The mirror has 100-μm square plate of 5 μm thick, which is suspended by thin silicon nanowire of about 1 μm thick and wide. The device was fabricated using Bosch process and isotropic plasma etching. We successfully demonstrated array operation of 4×4 devices at relatively low actuation voltage (~20 Vpp) and large mechanical deflection amplitude (~9°). However, the deviation of vibration amplitude was large among unit resonators. By fitting the frequency response to the Duffing equation we found that self-enhancing actuation force caused by nonlinearity of the vertical combs was a main reason.