MICROMACHINE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME
    1.
    发明公开
    MICROMACHINE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME 有权
    微器件及其制造方法

    公开(公告)号:EP1041036A4

    公开(公告)日:2005-03-09

    申请号:EP99947884

    申请日:1999-10-13

    申请人: SEIKO EPSON CORP

    摘要: A micromachine and a method of manufacturing the same which are suitable as or for a micromachine having a first dynamic fine structural portion constituting a driving portion, and a second static fine structural portion performing a switching function or a function of an optical element, the method comprising forming the second static fine structural portion on the first dynamic fine structural portion, or superposing the second static fine structural portion thereon and die transferring the same thereto, whereby the method enables the second fine structure to be formed without using at least a complicated step, such as a silicon process in an intermediate stage of the method, and into a complicated shape easily with a high reproducibility, and contributes to the improvement of the productivity. Especially, when a plurality of elements are arranged in an arrayed state as in a spatial light modulator, the die transfer techniques enable the second fine structure to be reproduced stably as compared with the techniques using a silicon process for forming all parts of a micromachine, whereby the subject method reduces the probability of occurrence of defects to a remarkably low level and contributes to the improvement of the yield.

    OPTICAL SWITCHING DEVICE AND IMAGE DISPLAY DEVICE
    4.
    发明公开
    OPTICAL SWITCHING DEVICE AND IMAGE DISPLAY DEVICE 有权
    光开关器件及影像显示装置

    公开(公告)号:EP0969306A4

    公开(公告)日:2003-06-25

    申请号:EP98955980

    申请日:1998-11-27

    申请人: SEIKO EPSON CORP

    摘要: A light guide part which can reflect a light totally and transfer the light, an optical switching part which has its extraction plane close to a totally reflective plane to capture an evanescent light and reflects and emits the evanescent light and a driving part which drives the optical switching part are layered in the direction of the light emission in this order to obtain an optical switching device with a hierarchical structure. By employing the hierarchical structure, the respective layers can be optimized. Especially, as the extracted light is not passed through the driving part, the driving part can be optimized to provide an optical switching device which can operate at a high velocity and with a low power consumption. Therefore, an optical switching device which shows the low loss of a light utilizing an evanescent wave, has a high response velocity and, further, shows a large contrast ratio can be provided.

    OPTICAL SWITCHING DEVICE, IMAGE DISPLAY AND PROJECTION DEVICE
    5.
    发明公开
    OPTICAL SWITCHING DEVICE, IMAGE DISPLAY AND PROJECTION DEVICE 有权
    光开关器件,图像显示与投影设备

    公开(公告)号:EP0969305A4

    公开(公告)日:2003-06-25

    申请号:EP98947784

    申请日:1998-10-07

    申请人: SEIKO EPSON CORP

    CPC分类号: G02B26/02

    摘要: An image display has a light guide having a total reflecting surface which reflects guided light for image display totally transmits the light and an optical switch having a microprism which extracts the evanescent light leaking from the total reflecting surface and reflects it. Guided light is directed from two directions symmetrical with respect to a display area to produce light from the whole surface of the microprism. Therefore, an image display on which a brighter image having a higher contrast can be displayed is provided, by optimizing the vertex angle of the microprism, the directions of emitted rays of light are matched and directed vertically to the total reflecting surface, so that an image display which displays a high quality image is realized.