System and method of fabricating micro cavities
First Claim
1. A method of manufacturing a plurality of micro enclosures on a substrate wafer, comprising:
- (1) bonding a cap wafer to said substrate wafer with an adhesive layer;
(2) thinning said cap wafer to desired thickness;
(3) patterning and etching said cap wafer and said adhesive to form islands of layers of said cap wafer and said adhesive on said substrate wafer; and
(4) patterning and depositing at least one metal layer on said islands to form a sidewall around said islands.
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Abstract
A system and method for manufacturing micro cavities at the wafer level using a unique, innovative MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) process, wherein micro cavities are formed, with epoxy bonded single-crystalline silicon membrane as cap and deposited and/or electroplated metal as sidewall, on substrate wafers. The epoxy is also the sacrificial layer. It is totally removed from within the cavity through small etch access holes etched in the silicon cap before the etch access holes are sealed under vacuum. The micro cavities manufactured therein can be used as pressure sensors or for packaging MEMS devices under vacuum or inert environment. In addition, the silicon membrane manufactured therein can be used to manufacture RF switches.
76 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing a plurality of micro enclosures on a substrate wafer, comprising:
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(1) bonding a cap wafer to said substrate wafer with an adhesive layer;
(2) thinning said cap wafer to desired thickness;
(3) patterning and etching said cap wafer and said adhesive to form islands of layers of said cap wafer and said adhesive on said substrate wafer; and
(4) patterning and depositing at least one metal layer on said islands to form a sidewall around said islands. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 30, 31)
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19. A method of planarizing a wafer, comprising:
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coating said wafer with a thick epoxy layer;
curing said epoxy layer by heat or ultraviolet light; and
thinning said epoxy layer to the desired thickness by lapping, grinding or polishing. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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22. A system for making small enclosures on a substrate wafer, comprising:
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a means for bonding a cap wafer to said substrate wafer with an adhesive layer;
a means for thinning said cap wafer to desired thickness;
a means for patterning and etching said cap wafer and said adhesive to form islands of layers of said cap wafer and said adhesive on said substrate wafer; and
a means patterning and depositing at least one metal layer on said islands to form a sidewall around said islands.
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23. A vacuum or hermetic packaging enclosure comprising:
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a sidewall formed from deposited film;
a top formed from an epoxy bonded wafer;
a substrate; and
wherein said epoxy bonded wafer is bonded to and said deposited film is deposited on said substrate and said epoxy-bonded wafer comprises at least one etch access hole, said at least one etch access hole is sealed with deposited films.
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24. A stepping electrostatic actuator of a MEMS device, comprising:
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a substrate;
a suspended medial plate linked to said substrate;
a plurality of suspended side electrodes linked to said suspended medial plate; and
fixed side electrodes forming a plurality of side parallel-plate electrostatic actuators, wherein said fixed side electrodes form stairs, said suspended side electrodes and said suspended medial plate are linked with springs. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification