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US 11,637,540 B2Granted
Non-linear tethers for suspended devices
AssigneeX-Celeprint Limited
InventorsAntónio José Marques Trindade, Lei Liu, Ronald S. Cok
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Abstract
A suspended device structure comprises a substrate, a cavity disposed in a surface of the substrate, and a device suspended entirely over a bottom of the cavity. The device is a piezoelectric device and is suspended at least by a tether that physically connects the device to the substrate. The tether has a non-linear centerline. A wafer can comprise a plurality of suspended device structures.
Claims18
A suspended device structure, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a cavity disposed in a surface of the substrate;
- and
- a device suspended entirely over a bottom of the cavity, the device comprising a piezoelectric material;
- wherein the device is suspended at least by a tether that physically connects the device to the substrate, wherein the tether has a non-linear centerline, and
- wherein the tether comprises a tether device portion having a tether device portion centerline that extends from the device and a tether substrate portion having a tether substrate portion centerline that extends from the substrate, the tether substrate portion is physically connected to the tether device portion, and the tether device portion centerline is non-collinear with the tether substrate portion centerline.
3 more elements
A method of making a suspended device structure, the method comprising:
- forming a device on a substrate entirely over a sacrificial portion of the substrate;
- forming a tether having a non-linear centerline physically connecting the device to the substrate in a tether direction;
- and
- etching the sacrificial portion of the substrate without etching the device or the tether to form a cavity disposed in a surface of the substrate and to suspend the device entirely over a bottom of the cavity, wherein a long dimension of the device is aligned with a normal direction of fast etch planes of the substrate,
- wherein the tether comprises a tether device portion having a tether device portion centerline that extends from the device and a tether substrate portion having a tether substrate portion centerline that extends from the substrate, the tether substrate portion is physically connected to the tether device portion, and the tether device portion centerline is non-collinear with the tether substrate portion centerline.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.