Micromechanical device having an improved beam
First Claim
1. An improved deformable beam for a micromechanical device which includes a deflectable mass supported by the beam, the beam being deformed upon deflection of the mass, wherein the improvement comprises:
- the dents being constituted of an electrically conductive layer of titanium-tungsten containing an alloying element at a level above 0.1% atomic, said beam being constituted of at least 90% by weight tungsten, wherein said alloying element is selected from the group of nitrogen, oxygen, boron, silicon and carbon.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electrically addressable, integrated, monolithic, micromirror device (10) is formed by the utilization of sputtering techniques, including various metal and oxide layers, photoresists, liquid and plasma etching, plasma stripping and related techniques and materials. The device (10) includes a selectively electrostatically deflectable mass or mirror (12) of supported by one or more beams (18) formed by sputtering and selective etching. The beams (18) are improved by being constituted of an impurity laden titanium-tungsten layer (52) with an impurity such as nitrogen, which causes the beams to have lattice constant different from TiW. The improved beams (18) exhibit increased strength, and decreased relaxation and creep.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. An improved deformable beam for a micromechanical device which includes a deflectable mass supported by the beam, the beam being deformed upon deflection of the mass, wherein the improvement comprises:
the dents being constituted of an electrically conductive layer of titanium-tungsten containing an alloying element at a level above 0.1% atomic, said beam being constituted of at least 90% by weight tungsten, wherein said alloying element is selected from the group of nitrogen, oxygen, boron, silicon and carbon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Specification