Back to results
US 7,514,942 B2Granted
Probe based patterning of microelectronic and micromechanical devices
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorValluri Rao
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Patterning of microelectronic and micromechanical devices is described using probes. In one example, a plurality of probe tips are driven into a processing layer of a substrate. The probe tips are carried by movable sleds. The sleds are moved to write patterns into the processing layer using the probes, and the processing layer is processed to form features on the substrate.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a probe carriage constructed on a wafer;
- a plurality of scanning stages constructed on the same wafer carried by and coupled to the probe carriage, the scanning stages being individually movable across the surface of an adjacent substrate;
- a first electrostatic drive coupled between each scanning stage and the probe carriage to provide independent translation of each scanning stage in a first direction with respect to the probe carriage;
- a second electrostatic drive coupled between each scanning stage and the probe carriage to provide independent translation of each scanning stage in a second direction with respect to the probe carriage;
- a suspension system to allow movement through the electrostatic drives in the first direction and the second direction while holding the scanning stages to the probe carriage;
- and
- a plurality of probes constructed on the same wafer and attached to each scanning stage, each probe tip being individually movable towards and away from the adjacent substrate to write patterns in the substrate when moved toward the substrate based on the movement of the respective scanning stage.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.