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Dissolved wafer fabrication process and associated microelectromechanical device having a support substrate with spacing mesas
| Details |
Inventors: Hays, Ken Maxwell;
Assignee: Honeywell, Inc. (Morristown, NJ)
Primary Examiner: Niebling; John F.
Assistant Examiner: Simkovic; Viktor
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Alston & Bird LLP
The method of the present invention provides a process for manufacturing MEMS devices having more precisely defined mechanical and/or electromechanical members. The method of the present invention begins by providing a partially sacrificial substrate and a support substrate. In order to space the mechanical and/or electromechanical members of the resulting MEMS device above the support substrate, mesas are formed on the support substrate. By forming the mesas on the support substrate instead of the partially sacrificial substrate, the mechanical and/or electromechanical members can be more precisely formed from the partially sacrificial substrate since the inner surface of the partially sacrificial substrate is not etched and therefore remains planar. As such, trenches can be precisely etched through the planar inner surface of the partially sacrificial substrate to define mechanical and/or electromechanical members of the MEMS device. The present invention also provides an improved MEMS device, such as an improved gyroscope, that includes more precisely and reliably defined mechanical and/or electromechanical members. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION As set forth below, the method for forming a MEMS device and the associated MEMS device of the present invention overcome the deficiencies identified with conventional methods.
In particular, the method of the present invention separates the various mechanical and/or electromechanical members of the MEMS device by etching, such as by RIE, through the inner surface of a partially sacrificial substrate that is planar such that the resulting trenches are precisely defined in terms of dimension, position and depth.
In particular, for a MEMS device constructed primarily from the doped region of a partially sacrificial substrate and a support substrate, the method of the present invention etches the support mesas from the support substrate instead of the partially sacrificial substrate.
By etching the mesas from the support substrate rather than the inner surface of the partially sacrificial substrate, the inner surface of the partially sacrificial substrate remains planar for the etching procedures that separate the precise mechanical and/or electromechanical members.
As such, MEMS devices having mechanical and/or electromechanical members can be reliably produced.
Further, the present invention provides a MEMS device that includes a support substrate having mesas that extend outwardly therefrom.
The MEMS device of the present invention also includes a partially sacrificial substrate from which the mechanical and/or electromechanical members are formed that is supported by the mesas.
Because the mesas are formed from the support substrate as opposed to the partially sacrificial substrate, the inner surface of the partially sacrificial substrate remains planar for later etching to separate the mechanical and/or electromechanical members.
These and other advantages are provided, according to the present invention, by a method for forming a MEMS device that initially provides a partially sacrificial substrate having a planar inner surface.
The partially sacrificial substrate is doped such that the partially sacrificial substrate includes both a doped region and an undoped sacrificial region, wherein the doped region is adjacent to the inner surface of the partially sacrificial substrate
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