Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090160040 | LOW TEMPERATURE CERAMIC MICROELECTROMECHANICAL STRUCTURES - A method of providing microelectromechanical structures (MEMS) that are compatible with silicon CMOS electronics is provided. The method provides for processing and manufacturing is steps limiting a maximum exposure of an integrated circuit upon which the MEMS is manufactured during MEMS manufacturing to below a temperature wherein CMOS circuitry is adversely affected, for example below 400° C., and sometimes to below 300° C. or 250° C., thereby allowing direct manufacturing of the MEMS devices onto electronic integrated circuits, such as Si CMOS circuits. | 06-25-2009 |
20100279451 | DIRECT CONTACT HEAT CONTROL OF MICRO STRUCTURES - A method of providing thermal tuning of microelectromechanical structures (MEMS) that are compatible with silicon CMOS electronics is disclosed. A heater is provided integrated with the MEMS for controllably heating the MEMS to control performance characteristics thereof. | 11-04-2010 |
20110027930 | Low Temperature Wafer Level Processing for MEMS Devices - Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are small integrated devices or systems that combine electrical and mechanical components. It would be beneficial for such MEMS devices to be integrated with silicon CMOS electronics and packaged in controlled environments and support industry standard mounting interconnections such as solder bump through the provisioning of through-wafer via-based electrical interconnections. However, the fragile nature of the MEMS devices, the requirement for vacuum, hermetic sealing, and stresses placed on metallization membranes are not present in packaging conventional CMOS electronics. Accordingly there is provided a means of reinforcing the through-wafer vias for such integrated MEMS-CMOS circuits by in filling a predetermined portion of the through-wafer electrical vias with low temperature deposited ceramic materials which are deposited at temperatures below 350° C., and potentially to below 250° C., thereby allowing the re-inforcing ceramic to be deposited after fabrication of the CMOS electronics. | 02-03-2011 |
20110111545 | LOW TEMPERATURE CERAMIC MICROELECTROMECHANICAL STRUCTURES - A method of providing microelectromechanical structures (MEMS) that are compatible with silicon CMOS electronics is provided. The method providing for processes and manufacturing sequences limiting the maximum exposure of an integrated circuit upon which the MEMS is manufactured to below 350° C., and potentially to below 250° C., thereby allowing direct manufacturing of the MEMS devices onto electronics, such as Si CMOS circuits. The method further providing for the provisioning of MEMS devices with multiple non-conductive structural layers such as silicon carbide separated with small lateral gaps. Such silicon carbide structures offering enhanced material properties, increased environmental and chemical resilience whilst also allowing novel designs to be implemented taking advantage of the non-conductive material of the structural layer. The use of silicon carbide being beneficial within the formation of MEMS elements such as motors, gears, rotors, translation drives, etc where increased hardness reduces wear of such elements during operation. | 05-12-2011 |
20130115730 | Low-Temperature Wafer Level Processing for MEMS Devices - It would be beneficial to integrate MEMS devices with silicon CMOS electronics, package them in controlled environments, e.g. vacuum for MEMS resonators, and provide industry standard electrical interconnections such as solder bumps. However, to do so requires through-wafer via-based electrical interconnections. However, the fragile nature of the MEMS devices, the requirement for vacuum, hermetic sealing, and the stresses placed on metallization membranes are not present in conventional CMOS packaging. Accordingly there is provided a means of reinforcing through-wafer vias for integrated MEMS-CMOS circuits by in-filling the through-wafer electrical vias with low temperature deposited ceramic materials deposited with processes compatible with post-processing of CMOS electronics. Beneficially ceramics such as silicon carbide provide enhanced mechanical strength, enhanced expansion matching, and increased thermal conductivity in comparison to silicon and solder materials. The ceramic reinforcing may be further adapted to include micro-channels for the provisioning of liquid cooling through the structures. | 05-09-2013 |
20140125359 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR HUMIDITY AND PRESSURE SENSOR OVERLAY INTEGRATION WITH ELECTRONICS - Capacitive sensors and MEMS elements that can be implemented directly above silicon CMOS electronics are disclosed. A capacitive based sensor is disposed over a first predetermined portion of a wafer that includes at least a first ceramic element providing protection for the final capacitive based sensor and self-aligned processing during its manufacturing. | 05-08-2014 |
20140230547 | Microelectromechanical Bulk Acoustic Wave Devices and Methods - Micromachined gyroscopes, such as those based upon microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have the potential to dominate the rate-sensor market mainly due to their small size, low power and low cost. As MEMS gyroscopes are resonant devices requiring active excitation it would be beneficial to improve the resonator Q-factor reducing the electrical drive power requirements for the excitation circuitry. Further, many prior art MEMS gyroscope designs have multiple resonances arising from design and manufacturing considerations which require additional frequency tuning and control circuitry together with the excitation/sense circuitry. It would therefore be beneficial to enhance the bandwidth of the resonators to remove the requirement for such circuitry. Further, to address the relatively large dimensions of MEMS gyroscopes it would be beneficial for the MEMS gyroscopes to be fabricated directly above the CMOS electronics thereby reducing the die dimensions and lowering per die cost. | 08-21-2014 |
20140265720 | METHODS AND DEVICES RELATING TO CAPACITIVE MICROMACHINED DIAPHRAGMS AND TRANSDUCERS - Monolithically integrated capacitive micromachined transducers (CMTs) offer combined process steps, shared layers, simplified packaging, and reduced die size by overlapping the CMTs with the integrated circuit (IC) electronics. Moreover, a CMT array directly above the electronics also allows for varying the excitation signal phase to each CMT element thereby enabling beam-forming techniques. Above-IC integration is particularly attractive by not requiring any alteration of the semiconductor fabrication process and allowing subsequent implementation independent of IC fabrication. Naturally, this scheme requires that the CMT technology limit itself to IC compatible materials and chemicals, as well as process step temperatures within a specific thermal budget. Embodiments of the invention expanding upon surface micromachining technology allow the fabrication of IC-compatible CMT structures with superior mechanical properties and resistance to harsh environments such as high temperature, corrosive media and high-g shocks, by exploiting silicon carbide (SiC) structures to form the upper CMT structural layer. | 09-18-2014 |