Method for fabrication an electrical transducer
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- forming a transducer including at least a transducer element on a substrate;
forming a first patterned opening through the substrate, the first patterned opening defining a partial boundary of a substrate segment corresponding to the transducer element so that the substrate segment remains partially connected to rest of the substrate through a connecting part remaining in the substrate;
securing the substrate segment so that the substrate segment would remain stable with the substrate even if the connecting part of the substrate is removed; and
removing the connecting part of the substrate so that the substrate segment no longer directly contacts the rest of the substrate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for fabricating electrostatic transducers and arrays electrically separates the substrate segments of the transducer elements from each other using a technique involving two cutting steps, in which the first step forms a patterned opening in the substrate to make a partial separation of substrate segments, and the second step completes the separation after the substrate segments have been secured to prevent instability of the substrate segments upon completion of the second step. The securing of the substrate segments may be accomplished by filling a nonconductive material in the partial separation or securing the transducer array on a support substrate. When the substrate is conductive, the separated substrate segments serve as separate bottom electrodes that can be individually addressed. The method is especially useful for fabricating ID transducer arrays.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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forming a transducer including at least a transducer element on a substrate; forming a first patterned opening through the substrate, the first patterned opening defining a partial boundary of a substrate segment corresponding to the transducer element so that the substrate segment remains partially connected to rest of the substrate through a connecting part remaining in the substrate; securing the substrate segment so that the substrate segment would remain stable with the substrate even if the connecting part of the substrate is removed; and removing the connecting part of the substrate so that the substrate segment no longer directly contacts the rest of the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method comprising:
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forming on a substrate, a transducer array including at least a first transducer element and a second transducer element; forming a first patterned opening through the substrate, the first patterned opening defining partial boundaries of a first substrate segment corresponding to the first transducer element and a second substrate segment corresponding to the second transducer element, so that the first substrate segment and the second substrate segment remain partially connected to the substrate by a respective connecting part remaining in the substrate; securing the first and the second substrate segments so that the first and the second substrate segments would stay stably with the substrate even if the connecting parts are removed; and removing the connecting parts so that the first and the second substrate segments no longer directly contact the substrate and further no longer directly contact each other in the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method comprising:
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forming on a substrate, a transducer array including a plurality of transducer elements each corresponding to a respective substrate segment; forming a first patterned opening in the substrate from a side of the substrate, the first patterned opening defining partial boundaries of the substrate segment so that the substrate segments each remain partially connected to the substrate by a respective connecting part remaining in the substrate; securing the substrate segments by adding or forming a filler material in the first patterned opening so that the substrate segments stably stay with the substrate if the connecting parts are removed; and forming a second patterned opening in the substrate from the same side of the substrate to remove the connecting parts, so that the substrate segments no longer directly contact the substrate and further no longer directly contact each other.
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29. A method comprising:
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forming on a substrate a 1-D transducer array of a plurality of transducer elements arranged side-by-side in a first lateral direction, each transducer element corresponding to a respective substrate segment; forming a first patterned opening through the substrate from a side of the substrate, the first patterned opening defining partial boundaries of the substrate segments so that the substrate segments remain partially connected to the substrate by respective connecting parts remaining in the substrate; securing the substrate segments so that the substrate segments of the transducer array stably stay together with the substrate if the connecting parts are removed; and forming a second patterned opening in the substrate from a same side of the substrate to remove the connecting parts, wherein one of the first patterned opening and the second patterned opening comprises a plurality of trenches each disposed between two neighboring transducer elements and extending along a second lateral direction substantially perpendicular to the first lateral direction, the other one of the first patterned opening and the second patterned opening includes a first opening on a common side of the plurality of transducer elements and a second opening on an opposing common side of the plurality of transducer elements, and the first patterned opening and the second patterned opening together separate the substrate segments so that the substrate segments no longer directly contact the substrate, and further no longer directly contact each other in the substrate.
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Specification