Electronic devices including micromechanical switches
First Claim
1. A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit device, the device comprising a plurality of micromechanical switches and a plurality of thin film circuit components provided on a common substrate, the method comprising:
- depositing and patterning a lower electrode pattern which defines bottom contacts for the thin film circuit components and for the micromechanical switches;
depositing and patterning component layers for forming the thin film circuit components over the lower electrode pattern, the component layers defining sacrificial regions over regions of the substrate allocated to the micromechanical switches and defining the thin film circuit components over regions of the substrate allocated to the thin film circuit components;
depositing and patterning a conductive layer to provide an upper electrode pattern, the upper electrode pattern defining top contacts for the thin film circuit components and defining contact beams for the micromechanical switches, the contact beams each extending over a respective sacrificial region;
removing the sacrificial regions of the component layers to define a space between the contact beam and the lower electrode pattern of each micromechanical switch.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of manufacturing an electronic device comprising an integrated circuit device having micromechanical switches (10) and thin film circuit components (20) provided on a common substrate (2). The micromechanical switches (10) have contact beams (12) extending over a respective sacrificial region. Component layers (5) for forming the thin film circuit components are used as the sacrificial region in the area of the substrate allocated to the micromechanical switches. This enables various layers to be shared between the switches and the components. A supplementary support layer (50) may be provided for the contact beams to protect them against damage during subsequent processing and fabrication stages. A portion of this support layer can be left attached to the beam in the completed device for increased strength.
69 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit device, the device comprising a plurality of micromechanical switches and a plurality of thin film circuit components provided on a common substrate, the method comprising:
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depositing and patterning a lower electrode pattern which defines bottom contacts for the thin film circuit components and for the micromechanical switches;
depositing and patterning component layers for forming the thin film circuit components over the lower electrode pattern, the component layers defining sacrificial regions over regions of the substrate allocated to the micromechanical switches and defining the thin film circuit components over regions of the substrate allocated to the thin film circuit components;
depositing and patterning a conductive layer to provide an upper electrode pattern, the upper electrode pattern defining top contacts for the thin film circuit components and defining contact beams for the micromechanical switches, the contact beams each extending over a respective sacrificial region;
removing the sacrificial regions of the component layers to define a space between the contact beam and the lower electrode pattern of each micromechanical switch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification