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US 12,703,834 B1Granted
Anti-stiction ionic lubricants in MEMS devices
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsUroob Haris, John Faruk Alptekin, Muralidhar Hanabe
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Abstract
In examples, a microelectromechanical device comprises a moveable element configured to contact a portion of a surface, and an ionic liquid on the portion of the surface.
Claims19
A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device comprising:
- a mirror configured to tilt in a first direction to contact a first spring tip at a first portion of a surface and tilt in a second direction to contact a second spring tip at a second portion of the surface, wherein the mirror comprises aluminum and the spring tip comprises aluminum;
- and
- a film on the first and second portions of the surface, in which the film is a result of an ionic fluid having been heated and having reacted with one or more chemical groups of the first and second portions.
A method, comprising:
- contacting first and second portions of one or more surfaces of a micromechanical systems (MEMS) device with an ionic liquid,
- wherein the ionic liquid comprises a cation characterized by a general formula YRn, wherein Y is an onium ion and R is a substituted alkyl group, an unsubstituted alkyl group or a combination thereof and n ranges from 1 to 6, and wherein the ionic liquid comprises an anion characterized by a general formula QZn, wherein Q is phosphorus, sulfur, or boron and Z is a halide, oxygen, alkoxy group, haloalkyl or combination thereof and n ranges from 1 to 6;
- activating the ionic liquid by heating the ionic liquid to a temperature between about 25° C. to about 200° C., wherein, in response to being activated, the ionic liquid is configured to react with one or more chemical groups of the first and second portions of the one or more surfaces to form a film on the first and second portions of the one or more surfaces;
- and
- sealing the MEMS device after activating the ionic liquid to form the film.
2 more elements
A microelectromechanical device comprising:
- a moveable element configured to contact a first portion of a surface and a second portion of the surface;
- and
- a film on the first and second portions of the surface, in which the film is a result of an ionic liquid on the first and second portions of the surface having been heated and having reacted with one or more chemical groups of the first and second portions, wherein the ionic liquid is characterized by a cation having any of Structures I or II, wherein R is an alkyl group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.