Process for manufacturing a two-axis mirror
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsAndrew S. Dewa, John W. Orcutt, David Ian Forehand
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for manufacturing a wafer from a layer of material such as silicon and having a multiplicity of MEMS devices such as mirrors with gimbals formed thereon is disclosed. The features of the devices on the wafer as well as the boundaries which separate individual devices are defined by lines having a constant width so as to avoid microloading effects. Waste areas of the layer of material which are greater than the constant line width are removed as breakout pieces during the release process.
Claims33
A process for manufacturing a plurality of MEMS devices on a layer of material of a selected thickness comprising the steps of:
- attaching said layer of material to a backing layer of material;
- defining both the features on each individual ones of said plurality of MEMS devices and the boundaries between individual ones of said plurality of MEMS devices with a constant line width;
- etching said lines defining device features and said lines defining boundaries until said lines are etched through said selected thickness;
- and
- separating said devices formed in said layer of material from said backing layer.
The process of step 1 wherein said separating step comprises the step of placing said backing layer with said attached first layer of material in a solvent bath.
The process of step 15 wherein said solvent bath is acetone.
A process for manufacturing a plurality of gimbal mirror devices on a layer of material of a selected thickness comprising:
- attaching said layer of material to a backing layer of material;
- defining both the features on each individual ones of said plurality of gimbal mirror devices and the boundaries between individual ones of said plurality of gimbal mirror devices with lines having a constant width;
- etching said lines until said lines are etched through said first selected thickness;
- and
- separating said plurality of gimbal mirror devices from said backing layer.
The process of step 21 wherein said separating step comprises the step of placing said backing layer with said attached first layer of material in a solvent bath.
The process of step 28 wherein said solvent bath is acetone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.