Design and Microfabrication of an Electrostatically Actuated Scanning Micromirror with Elevated Electrodes

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This paper reports the design and microfabrication of an electrostatically actuated CMOS-MEMS micromirror with elevated electrodes. Device structural design and fabrication process are detailed and device performance such as scanning angles is simulated using CoventorWare. With a 30 V driving voltage applied to the mismatched comb drives alternately, a rotational angle of over plus-minus 12 degree can be realized. The uniqueness of this structure also includes the integration of polysilicon heaters in the bimorph beams. By passing current in these polysilicon heaters, the bimorph beams, which consist of SiO2 and aluminum thin films, can be electrothermally driven to tune the elevation height of the stator comb fingers. A resonant frequency ratio of over 4 is chosen between the bimorph beams and torsional springs to ensure stable operation of the device. The device chips were fabricated using AMI 0.5 µm CMOS technology through MOSIS. Post-CMOS microfabrication has been performed for device release and detailed fabrication process flow is given. More results will be presented in abstract update or full paper.

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Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 3, Nanotechnology 2008: Microsystems, Photonics, Sensors, Fluidics, Modeling, and Simulation – Technical Proceedings of the 2008 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 3
Published: June 1, 2008
Pages: 203 - 206
Industry sector: Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Sensors - Chemical, Physical & Bio
ISBN: 978-1-4200-8505-1