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A Micromachined Thermo-Optical Light Modulator Based On Semiconductor-To-Metal Phase Transition, Lijun Jiang

Dissertations

In this research, a micromachined thermo-optical light modulator was realized based on the semiconductor-to-metal phase transition of vanadium dioxide (VO₂) thin film. VO₂ undergoes a reversible phase transition at approximately 68 0C, which is accompanied with drastic changes in its electrical and optical properties. The sharp electrical resistivity change can be as great as five orders. Optically, VO₂ film will switch from a transparent semiconductor phase to a reflective metal phase upon the phase transition. The light modulator in this research exploits this phase transition related optical switching by using surface micromachined low-thermal-mass pixels to achieve …