Abstract:
A method of producing a device with a movable portion spaced apart from a support wafer comprises a step of providing the support wafer having a structured surface and a further step of providing a device wafer with a backing layer and a device layer disposed thereon. Further, the method comprises the step of generating a first planarization layer from a first starting material on the support wafer with a first method to fill in the structures of the structured surface of the support wafer, whereby a surface with a first degree of planarization is obtained. Further, the method comprises a step of generating a second planarization layer from a second starting material on the planarized surface of the support wafer with a second method to obtain a surface with a second degree of planarization, which is higher than the first degree of planarization, wherein the first and second planarization layers can be removed together. Additionally, the support wafer is connected to the device wafer such that the device layer and the planarized surface of the support wafer are connected. Then, removing the backing layer of the device wafer is performed, followed by structuring the resulting structure and removing the first and second planarization layers via a common method to generate the moveable portion of the device.
Abstract:
A head electrode region for an electromechanical device is presented, comprising a first insulating layer having electrode region edges; and a head electrode, where the head electrode comprises a locking portion, with the locking portion surrounding the electrode region edges of the first insulating layer such that the head electrode is held fixed relative to the first insulating layer. The head electrode region can further comprise a top region residing above the first insulating layer and a contact region residing below the first insulator, the head electrode region further comprising a second insulating layer formed to cover at least a portion of the top region of the head electrode.
Abstract:
A method of planarizing a circuit surface is disclosed. The basic idea is to use the photoresist mask for etching as the mask for lift-off, i.e. after the substrate patterned with photoresist and dry etched, metal is directly deposited onto it and liftoff afterwards. Thus, the deposited metal is self aligned and filled into the etched pattern with a planar surface. It is important that the metal thickness should be the same as the etching depth. The lithography needs a special recipe and photoresist requires a special pre-treatment so that the metal can form a clean edge without any residual metal along the edge. A prototype using this invention, a MEMS switch, is introduced.