Suspended single crystal silicon structures and method of making same
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leeland Stanford Junior University
InventorsRichard J. Reay, Erno H. Klaassen
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Abstract
Temperature-sensitive transducers and other circuitry are manufactured by an electrochemical post-processing etch on an integrated circuit fabricated using a conventional CMOS process. Tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide or another anisotropic etchant having similar characterisics is used to selectively etch exposed front-side regions of a p-type silicon substrate, leaving n-type wells suspended from oxide beams. Circuits in the n-wells are thermally and electrically insulated from the substrate.
Claims9
An integrated circuit incorporating a suspended single crystal silicon structure, comprising:
- a p-substrate;
- a pit etched in said p-substrate;
- at least one dielectric beam extending over said pit;
- an n-well suspended over said pit by said at least one dielectric beam, said at least one dielectric beam providing mechanical support and thermal insulation of said n-well;
- circuitry having electrical characteristics effected by temperature, at least a portion of said circuitry being located in said n-well and being thermally isolated in said n-well;
- and
- electrically conductive traces in said at least one dielectric beam connecting said thermally isolated circuitry to external circuits.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.