In-process gap reduction of capacitive transducers

This paper presents a MEMS fabrication technique for reducing the trench width of microstructures below the technological limitations of the deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process, in order to increase the aspect ratio of the sensing electrode gap of capacitive transducers. The in-process trench w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors and actuators. A. Physical. 2006-01, Vol.126 (1), p.211-217
Main Authors: Reuter, Danny, Bertz, Andreas, Billep, Detlef, Scheibner, Dirk, Dötzel, Wolfram, Gessner, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuators
Beams (radiation)
Buckling
Buckling beam
Capacitive transducer
Electrodes
HARM
Reactive ion etching
Reduction
Sensitivity enhancement
Transducers
Trench adjustment
Trenches
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Summary:This paper presents a MEMS fabrication technique for reducing the trench width of microstructures below the technological limitations of the deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process, in order to increase the aspect ratio of the sensing electrode gap of capacitive transducers. The in-process trench width reduction is based on the displacement of a substructure actuated by a buckling beam mechanism. Compressive stress causes a longitudinal force in the acting beams which results in the buckling to a predefined direction. This way, the capacitive sensitivity and hence the signal to area ratio of a transverse comb structure could be increased by a factor of 5.
ISSN:0924-4247
1873-3069
DOI:10.1016/j.sna.2005.09.033