Wednesday, January 10, 2007

US Patent 7161094 - MEMS Package with Environmental Control

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7161094.pdf

Stiction is a detrimental effect in microdevices involving the sticking of a movable portion of the microdevice in an undesired position. Changes in the local humidity or partial pressure within a housing of a microdevice can result in an increase in such stiction effects. This patent teaches the provision of materials to counteract environmental changes in a MEMS package in order to prevent stiction or other detrimental effects. Claim 1 reads:

1. A display device, comprising: a package; at least one microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device enclosed within the package, the MEMS device comprising a movable element configured to contact another surface; and an environmental control material inside the package, wherein the amount of the environmental control material is selected to affect an operation of the MEMS device.