Packaging of In-Plane Thermal Microactuators for BioMEMS Applications

Author(s):  
Hrishikesh V. Panchawagh ◽  
Faheem F. Faheem ◽  
Cari F. Herrmann ◽  
David B. Serrell ◽  
Dudley S. Finch ◽  
...  

This paper addresses two issues related to in-plane, electro-thermal actuators for BioMEMS applications. First, in order to protect the actuator from biological debris and particulates, a packaging technique using a flip-chip bonded polysilicon cap is demonstrated. The encapsulated actuator transmits motion outside the package via a piston, which moves through a small clearance. The second issue addressed is the reduction in efficiency of the thermal actuator in liquids. By coating the packaged actuator with a thin conformal hydrophobic layer via an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, the liquid is prevented from entering the encapsulation. This avoids direct contact between the actuator and the surrounding liquid thereby improving its efficiency. The unpackaged and packaged actuators were tested in both air and de-ionized water. Although the packaging resulted in a reduction in the performance of the thermal actuator in air, the actuation efficiency in water was significantly improved due to the isolation of the hot arms from the liquid. This packaging technique is also applicable to other MEMS devices and in-plane actuators such as electrostatic comb drives for engineering as well as biological applications.

2009 ◽  
Vol 1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-Kuan Lin ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Yanhang Zhang

AbstractMultilayer microcantilevers present in micro-/nano- electromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) applications serving passive and active structural roles. The application and commercialization of MEMS devices suffer from reliability problems. Appropriate nanocoatings, such as atomic layer deposition (ALD), have been demonstrated to be promising solutions for these reliability problems in MEMS devices. However, the micro/nano- mechanics within and/or between the microcantilevers and nanocoatings are not fully understood, especially when temperature, time, microstructural evolution and material nonlinearities play significant roles in thermomechanical response. The overall goal of this work is to suppress and understand the inelastic deformation and microstructural evolution in multilayer microcantilevers with nanocoatings. Moreover, to better understand the stress relief and Al2O3 suppression mechanism, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to explore the microstructural evolution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-71
Author(s):  
Degao Wang ◽  
Qing Huang ◽  
Weiqun Shi ◽  
Wei You ◽  
Thomas J. Meyer

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Zanders ◽  
Goran Bačić ◽  
Dominique Leckie ◽  
Oluwadamilola Odegbesan ◽  
Jeremy M. Rawson ◽  
...  

Attempted preparation of a chelated Co(II) β-silylamide re-sulted in the unprecedented disproportionation to Co(0) and a spirocyclic cobalt(IV) bis(β-silyldiamide): [Co[(NtBu)2SiMe2]2] (1). Compound 1 exhibits a room temperature magnetic moment of 1.8 B.M and a solid state axial EPR spectrum diagnostic of a rare S = 1/2 configuration. Semicanonical coupled-cluster calculations (DLPNO-CCSD(T)) revealed the doublet state was clearly preferred (–27 kcal/mol) over higher spin configurations for which density functional theory (DFT) showed no energetic preference. Unlike other Co(IV) complexes, 1 had remarkable thermal stability, and was demonstrated to form a stable self-limiting monolayer in initial atomic layer deposition (ALD) surface saturation tests. The ease of synthesis and high-stability make 1 an attractive starting point to begin investigating otherwise inaccessible Co(IV) intermediates and synthesizing new materials.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Younghee Lee ◽  
Daniela M. Piper ◽  
Andrew S. Cavanagh ◽  
Matthias J. Young ◽  
Se-Hee Lee ◽  
...  

<div>Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of LiF and lithium ion conducting (AlF<sub>3</sub>)(LiF)<sub>x</sub> alloys was developed using trimethylaluminum, lithium hexamethyldisilazide (LiHMDS) and hydrogen fluoride derived from HF-pyridine solution. ALD of LiF was studied using in situ quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and in situ quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) at reaction temperatures between 125°C and 250°C. A mass gain per cycle of 12 ng/(cm<sup>2</sup> cycle) was obtained from QCM measurements at 150°C and decreased at higher temperatures. QMS detected FSi(CH<sub>3</sub>)<sub>3</sub> as a reaction byproduct instead of HMDS at 150°C. LiF ALD showed self-limiting behavior. Ex situ measurements using X-ray reflectivity (XRR) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) showed a growth rate of 0.5-0.6 Å/cycle, in good agreement with the in situ QCM measurements.</div><div>ALD of lithium ion conducting (AlF3)(LiF)x alloys was also demonstrated using in situ QCM and in situ QMS at reaction temperatures at 150°C A mass gain per sequence of 22 ng/(cm<sup>2</sup> cycle) was obtained from QCM measurements at 150°C. Ex situ measurements using XRR and SE showed a linear growth rate of 0.9 Å/sequence, in good agreement with the in situ QCM measurements. Stoichiometry between AlF<sub>3</sub> and LiF by QCM experiment was calculated to 1:2.8. XPS showed LiF film consist of lithium and fluorine. XPS also showed (AlF<sub>3</sub>)(LiF)x alloy consists of aluminum, lithium and fluorine. Carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen impurities were both below the detection limit of XPS. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) observed that LiF and (AlF<sub>3</sub>)(LiF)<sub>x</sub> alloy film have crystalline structures. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ionic chromatography revealed atomic ratio of Li:F=1:1.1 and Al:Li:F=1:2.7: 5.4 for (AlF<sub>3</sub>)(LiF)<sub>x</sub> alloy film. These atomic ratios were consistent with the calculation from QCM experiments. Finally, lithium ion conductivity (AlF<sub>3</sub>)(LiF)<sub>x</sub> alloy film was measured as σ = 7.5 × 10<sup>-6</sup> S/cm.</div>


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter George Gordon ◽  
Goran Bacic ◽  
Gregory P. Lopinski ◽  
Sean Thomas Barry

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) is a promising earth-abundant alternative to Sn-doped In<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (ITO) as an n-type transparent conductor for electronic and photovoltaic devices; AZO is also more straightforward to deposit by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The workfunction of this material is particularly important for the design of optoelectronic devices. We have deposited AZO films with resistivities as low as 1.1 x 10<sup>-3</sup> Ωcm by ALD using the industry-standard precursors trimethylaluminum (TMA), diethylzinc (DEZ), and water at 200<sup>◦</sup>C. These films were transparent and their elemental compositions showed reasonable agreement with the pulse program ratios. The workfunction of these films was measured using a scanning Kelvin Probe (sKP) to investigate the role of aluminum concentration. In addition, the workfunction of AZO films prepared by two different ALD recipes were compared: a “surface” recipe wherein the TMA was pulsed at the top of each repeating AZO stack, and a interlamellar recipe where the TMA pulse was introduced halfway through the stack. As aluminum doping increases, the surface recipe produces films with a consistently higher workfunction as compared to the interlamellar recipe. The resistivity of the surface recipe films show a minimum at a 1:16 Al:Zn atomic ratio and using an interlamellar recipe, minimum resistivity was seen at 1:19. The film thicknesses were characterized by ellipsometry, chemical composition by EDX, and resistivity by four-point probe.<br>


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiajia Tao ◽  
Hong-Ping Ma ◽  
Kaiping Yuan ◽  
Yang Gu ◽  
Jianwei Lian ◽  
...  

<div>As a promising oxygen evolution reaction semiconductor, TiO2 has been extensively investigated for solar photoelectrochemical water splitting. Here, a highly efficient and stable strategy for rationally preparing GaON cocatalysts on TiO2 by atomic layer deposition is demonstrated, which we show significantly enhances the</div><div>photoelectrochemical performance compared to TiO2-based photoanodes. For TiO2@20 nm-GaON core-shell nanowires a photocurrent density up to 1.10 mA cm-2 (1.23 V vs RHE) under AM 1.5 G irradiation (100 mW cm-2) has been achieved, which is 14 times higher than that of TiO2 NWs. Furthermore, the oxygen vacancy formation on GaON as well as the band gap matching with TiO2 not only provides more active sites for water oxidation but also enhances light absorption to promote interfacial charge separation and migration. Density functional theory studies of model systems of GaON-modified TiO2 confirm the band gap reduction, high reducibility and ability to activate water. The highly efficient and stable systems of TiO2@GaON core-shell nanowires provide a deeper understanding and universal strategy for enhancing photoelectrochemical performance of photoanodes now available. </div>


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Burgess ◽  
Farzad Mardekatani Asl ◽  
Valerio Zardetto ◽  
Herbert Lifka ◽  
Sjoerd Veenstra ◽  
...  

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