Via integrity effects on DMD pixel dynamics

The Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) is developed by Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing (DLP™) organization. Micromirrors (also known as pixels or picture elements) rapidly rotate during operation. The portion of each pixel that supports and controls movement is defined as the superstmcture of the device. To construct pixels, repetitive deposition, pattern and removal processes common to Integrated Circuit (IC) fabrication are utilized. Isolated metal layers of the superstructure are interconnected with vias. Ideally, the vias have a lossless low resistance connection with the layers beneath. However, losses along this path exist, and they combine with the capacitance of each pixel to increase time required to charge mirror surfaces. The goal of this thesis is to understand, and through experimentation, demonstrate the device improvements of a more conductive via interface.