US Patent 7446926 - Regenerating protective coating for optical MEMS

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7446926.html

Iridigm Display Corporation is one of a few companies developing MEMS-based display devices. This patent teaches including a self-repairing monolayer protective layer for the micromechanical pixels in which the self-repair is induced by a heating element. Claim 1 reads:

1. An interferometric light modulating device, comprising:

a transparent substrate;

an interferometric modulator array disposed on said transparent substrate, wherein said array comprises a transmissive layer and a reflective layer;

a protective coating disposed between at least a portion of said transmissive layer and said reflective layer; and

a heater configured to increase the temperature of said protective coating.