Patent Grant
7471440
The present disclosure relates to the fabrication of micro structures and micro devices.
Sacrificial material is commonly used to fabricate micro devices. Planar micro fabrication technologies usually build micro structures in layers over a substrate, such as in a bottom up manner. The lower layers are deposited and processed, followed by the upper layers. Sacrificial material can be used when a micro structure includes an air gap between an upper structure portion and a lower structure portion. The sacrificial material is disposed over the lower structure portion. The upper structure portion is subsequently formed over the sacrificial material and the lower structure portion. The sacrificial material is finally removed to form the air gap between the upper structure portion and the lower structure portion. Photoresist is a commonly used sacrificial material.
There are several drawbacks to using photoresist as a sacrificial material. Photoresist is not stable above 150° C., which prevents the use of any processing steps at temperatures over 150° C. after applying the photoresist sacrificial material. The hardened photoresist has limited mechanical strength; it often cannot provide enough mechanical support for the upper structure portion, particularly if the upper structure portion is thin. Without proper mechanical support from the hardened photoresist, a thin upper structure portion may not be able to sustain mechanical stresses during processing, such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). Furthermore, photoresist usually has impurities such as oxygen or nitrogen, which may cause contamination in certain device applications.
In one general aspect, the present invention relates to a method of fabricating a tiltable micro mirror plate. The method includes forming a substrate comprising an upper surface and a hinge support post in connection with the upper surface, disposing over the substrate a first sacrificial material selected from the group of amorphous carbon, polyarylene, polyarylene ether, and hydrogen silsesquioxane, depositing one or more layers of structural materials over the first sacrificial material, forming an opening in the one or more layers of structural materials, wherein the opening can provide access from outside to the first sacrificial material below the one or more layers of structural materials, and removing the first sacrificial material to form the tiltable micro mirror plate in connection with the hinge support post.
In another general aspect, the present invention relates to a method of fabricating a micro structure. The method includes forming a substrate comprising a first structure portion having a first height and a second structure portion having a second height higher than the first height, disposing over the substrate a first sacrificial material selected from the group of amorphous carbon, polyarylene, polyarylene ether, and hydrogen silsesquioxane, wherein the sacrificial material covers at least the first structure portion, depositing a layer of a first structural material over the first sacrificial material, forming an opening in the layer of the first structural material, wherein the opening can provide access from outside to the first sacrificial material below the layer of the first structural material, and removing the first sacrificial material to form a third structure portion in connection with the second structure portion, wherein at least part of the third structure portion is above the first structure portion.
Implementations of the system may include one or more of the following. Disposing the first sacrificial material over the substrate can include depositing amorphous carbon over the substrate by CVD or PECVD. Disposing the first sacrificial material over the substrate can include spin-coating at least one of polyarylene, polyarylene ether, or hydrogen silsesquioxane over the substrate. The method can further include removing the first sacrificial material by plasma etching through the opening in the one or more layers of structural materials. The method can further include planarizing the first sacrificial material prior to depositing the one or more layers of structural materials over the first sacrificial material. The method can further include planarizing the first sacrificial material to the same height as the top surface of the hinge support post and depositing the one or more layers of structural materials over the top surface of the hinge support post. Planarizing the first sacrificial material can include chemical mechanical polishing. The method can further include forming a mask over the one or more layers of structural materials and selectively removing the one or more layers of structural materials not covered by the mask to form the opening in the one or more layers of structural materials.
The substrate further can include a landing tip in connection with the upper surface, and wherein the landing tip is configured to stop the tilt movement of the tiltable micro mirror plate by coming to contact with the lower surface of the tiltable micro mirror plate. The substrate can include an electronic circuit configured to control the tilt movement of the tiltable micro mirror plate. Depositing the one or more layers of structural materials over the first sacrificial material can include depositing a conductive material to form a lower layer for the tiltable micro mirror plate; depositing a structural material over the lower layer to form a middle layer for the tiltable micro mirror plate; and depositing a reflective material over the middle layer to form a upper layer for the tiltable micro mirror plate. The method can further include forming a cavity in the lower layer for the tiltable micro mirror plate; and filling the cavity with a second sacrificial material selected from the group of amorphous carbon, polyarylene, polyarylene ether, and hydrogen silsesquioxane prior to depositing the structural material to form the middle layer for the tiltable micro mirror plate. The method can further include removing the first sacrificial material the second sacrificial material to form the tiltable micro mirror plate having an opening in the lower surface of the lower layer and a hinge component in connection with the hinge support post, wherein the hinge component extends into the cavity in the lower layer, and wherein the titlable mirror plate is configured to tilt about a pivot point defined by the hinge component. The substrate can include an electrode over the upper surface of the substrate, and wherein the tiltable micro mirror plate is actuatable to tilt when an electric voltage is applied between the conductive material in the lower layer of the mirror plate and the electrode over the upper surface of the substrate. The structural material can include a material selected from the group of titanium, tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum, an alloy, aluminum, aluminum-silicon alloys, silicon, amorphous silicon, polysilicon, and silicide.
Implementations may include one or more of the following advantages. The present specification discloses sacrificial materials and methods that can overcome the drawbacks of some convention sacrificial materials. The disclosed sacrificial materials provide excellent thermal stability and low coefficient of thermal expansion. They can maintain mechanical strength at temperatures up to 500° C., which is higher than the temperature range within which a photoresist could be used. The higher-operation temperature allows high-temperature processing to be performed after the introduction and hardening of the disclosed sacrificial materials.
The disclosed sacrificial materials can be removed by isotropic etching in dry processes, which is simpler than the wet processes for cleaning the conventional sacrificial materials. Isotropic etching also allows convenient removal of the disclosed sacrificial materials that are positioned under an upper an upper structural layer such as a mirror plate, which cannot easily be accomplished by dry anisotropic etching processes.
The disclosed amorphous carbon can be deposited and removed as a sacrificial material by standard semiconductor processes. Amorphous carbon can be deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Amorphous carbon can be removed by a dry process, such as isotropic plasma etching, microwave, or activated gas vapor. The removal is highly selective relative to common semiconductor components, such as silicon and silicon dioxide.
After hardening, the disclosed sacrificial materials also provide improved mechanical strengths compared to photo resist, which allows a structure formed over the sacrificial material to endure higher mechanical stresses in process steps such as CMP. The disclosed sacrificial materials also possess improved mechanical wear resistance.
Although the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to multiple embodiments, it will be understood by persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
a illustrates a cross-section view of a micro mirror fabricated by the disclosed sacrificial material when the mirror plate is at an “on” state.
b illustrates a cross-section view of a micro mirror fabricated by the disclosed sacrificial material when the mirror plate is at an “off” state.
In one example, the disclosed materials and methods are illustrated by the fabrication of spatial light modulator (SLM) based on a micro mirror array. A micro mirror array typically includes an array of cells, each of which includes a micro mirror plate that can be tilted about an axis and, furthermore, circuitry for generating electrostatic forces that tilt the micro mirror plate. In a digital mode of operation, the micro mirror plate can be tilted to stay at two positions. In an “on” position, the micro mirror plate directs incident light to form an assigned pixel in a display image. In an “off” position, the micro mirror plate directs incident light away from the display image.
A cell can include structures for mechanically stopping the micro mirror plate at the “on” position and the “off” position. These structures are referred to in the present specification as mechanical stops. The SLM operates by tilting a selected combination of micro mirrors to project light to form appropriate image pixels in a display image. A display device based on an SLM is usually required to refresh image frames at high frequencies typical of video applications. Each instance of image frame refreshing can involve the tilting of all or some of the micro mirrors to new respective orientations. Providing fast mirror tilt movement is therefore crucial to any functional SLM-based display device.
a shows a cross-section view of a portion of a spatial light modulator 400 wherein a micro mirror plate is in an “on” position. Incident light 411 from a source of illumination 401 is directed at an angle of incidence θi and is reflected at an angle of θo as reflected light 412 toward a display surface through a projection pupil 403.
Referring to
The bottom portion includes a control substrate 300 with addressing circuitries to selectively control the operation of the mirror plates in the SLM 400. The addressing circuitries include an array of memory cells and word-line/bit-line interconnect for communication signals. The electrical addressing circuitry on a silicon wafer substrate can be fabricated using standard CMOS technology, and resembles a low-density memory array.
The middle portion of the high contrast SLM 400 includes step electrodes 221a and 221b, landing tips 222a and 222b, hinge support posts 105, and a hinge support frame 202. The multi-level step electrodes 221a and 221b are designed to improve the capacitive coupling efficiency of electrostatic torques during the angular cross over transition. By raising the surfaces of the step electrodes 221a and 221b near the hinge 106 area, the air gap spacing between the mirror plate 102 and the electrodes 221a and 221b is effectively narrowed. Since the electrostatic attractive force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the mirror plates and electrodes, this effect becomes apparent when the mirror plate is tilted at its landing positions. When operating in analog mode, highly efficient electrostatic coupling allows a more precise and stable control of the tilting angles of the individual micro mirror plate in the spatial light modulator. In a digital mode, the SLM requires much lower driving voltage potential in addressing circuitry to operate. The height differences between the first level and the second levels of the step electrodes 221a and 221b may vary from 0.2 microns to 3 microns depending on the relative height of air gap between the first level electrodes to the mirror plate.
On the top surface of control substrate, a pair of stationary landing tips 222a and 222b is designed to have a same height as that of second level of the step electrodes 221a and 221b for manufacturing simplicity. The landing tips 222a and 222b can provide a gentle mechanical touch-down for the mirror plate to land on each angular cross over transition at a pre-determined angle precisely. Adding a stationary landing tip 222a and 222b on the surface of control substrate enhances the robotics of operation and prolongs the reliability of the devices. Furthermore, the landing tips 222a and 222b allow an ease of separation between the mirror plate 102 and its landing tip 222a and 222b, which effectively eliminates the contact surface adhesion during a digital operation of the SLM 400. For example, to initiate an angular cross over transition, a sharp bipolar pulse voltage Vb is applied to the bias electrode 303, which is typically connected to each mirror plate 102 through its hinges 106 and the hinge support posts 105. The voltage potential established by the bipolar bias Vb enhances the electrostatic forces on both side of the hinge 106. This strengthening is unequal on two sides at the landing position, due to the large difference in air gap spacing. Though the increases of bias voltages Vb on the lower surface 103c of mirror plate 102 has less impact on which direction the mirror plate 102 will rotate toward, a sharp increase of electrostatic forces F on the whole mirror plate 102 provides a dynamic excitation by converting the electromechanical kinetic energy into an elastic strain energy stored in the deformed hinges 106 and deformed landing tips 222a or 222b. After a bipolar pulse is released on the common bias Vb, the elastic strain energy of deformed landing tip 222a or 222b and the deformed hinges 106 is converted back to the kinetic energy of mirror plate as it springs and bounces away from the landing tip 222a or 222b. This perturbation of mirror plate toward the quiescent state enables a much smaller address voltage potential Va for angular cross over transition of mirror plate 102 from one state to the other.
The hinge support frame 202 on the surface of control substrate 300 is designed to strengthen the mechanical stability of the pairs of hinge support posts 105, and retain the electrostatic potentials locally. For simplicity, the height of hinge support frames 202 is designed to be the same height as the first level of the step electrodes 221a and 221b. With a fixed size of mirror plate 102, the height of a pair of hinge support posts 105 will determine the maximum deflection angles θ of a micro mirror array.
The upper portion of the SLM 400 includes an array of micro mirrors with a flat optically reflective layer 103a on the upper surfaces and a pair of hinges 106 under the cavities in the lower portion of mirror plate 102. A pair of hinges 106 in the mirror plate 102 are fabricated to be part of the mirror plate 102 and is kept a minimum distance under the reflective surface to allow only a gap for a pre-determined angular rotation. By minimizing the distances between the rotation axis defined by the pair of hinges 106 to the upper reflective surfaces 103a, the spatial light modulator effectively eliminates the horizontal displacement of each mirror plate during an angular transition. In some implementations, the gaps between adjacent mirror plates in the array of SLM is reduced to less than 0.2 microns to achieve a high active reflection area fill-ratio.
The structural materials used for micro deflection devices are preferably conductive, stable, with suitable hardness, elasticity, and stress. Ideally a single material can provide both the stiffness of mirror plate 102 and the plasticity of hinges 106 having sufficient strength to deflect without fracturing. In the present specification, such structural material is called electromechanical material. Furthermore, all the materials used in constructing the micro mirror array may be processed at temperatures up to 500° C., a typical process temperature range without damaging the pre-fabricated circuitries in the control substrate.
In the implementation shown in
According to an alternative embodiment, the materials of mirror plates 102, hinges 106, and the hinge support posts 105 can include aluminum, silicon, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, and aluminum-silicon alloys. The deposition can be accomplished by physical vapor deposition (PVD) magnetron sputtering a single target containing either or both aluminum and silicon in a controlled chamber with temperature below 500° C. Same structure layers may also be formed by PECVD.
According to another alternative embodiment, the materials of mirror plates 102, hinges 106, and the hinge support posts 105 can be made of materials such as silicon, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, aluminum, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum, and silicides or alloys of aluminum, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum. Refractory metals and their silicides are compatible with CMOS semiconductor processing and have relatively good mechanical properties. These materials can be deposited by PVD, by CVD, and by PECVD. The optical reflectivity may be enhanced by further depositing a layer of metallic thin-films, such as aluminum, gold, or their alloys depending on the applications on the surfaces of mirror plate 102.
To achieve a high contrast ratio of the deflected video images, any scattered light from a micro mirror array should be reduced or eliminated. Most common interferences come from the diffraction patterns generated by the scattering of illumination from the leading and trailing edges of individual mirror plates. The solution to the diffraction problem is to reduce the intensity of diffraction pattern and to direct the scattered light from the inactive area of each pixel to different directions away from the projection pupil. One method is directing the incident light 411 45° to the edges of the square-shaped mirror plate 102, which is sometimes called diagonal hinge or diagonal illumination configuration.
The straight edges or corners of the mirror plates in a periodic array can create a diffraction patterns tended to reduce the contrast of projected images by scattering the incident light 411 at a fixed angle. Curved leading and trailing edges of the mirror plate in the array can reduce the diffractions due to the variation of scattering angles of the incident light 411 on the edges of mirror plate. According to another embodiment, the reduction of the diffraction intensity into the projection pupil 403 while still maintaining an orthogonal illumination optics system is achieved by replacing the straight or fixed angular corner shape edges of a rectangular shape mirror plate with at least one or a series curvature shape leading and trailing edges with opposite recesses and extensions. The curved leading and trailing edges perpendicular to the incident light 411 can reduce the diffracted light into the projection system.
Orthogonal illumination has a higher optical system coupling efficiency, and requires a less expensive, smaller size, and lighter TIR prism. However, since the scattered light from both leading and trailing edges of the mirror plate is scattered straightly into the projection pupil 403, it creates a diffraction pattern, reducing the contrast ratio of a SLM.
Another advantage of this reflective spatial light modulator is that it produces a high active reflection area fill-ratio by positioning the hinge 106 under the cavities in the lower portion of mirror plate 102, which almost completely eliminates the horizontal displacement of mirror plate 102 during an angular cross over transition.
In one implementation, fabrication of a high contrast spatial light modulator is implemented as four sequential processes using standard CMOS technology. A first process forms a control silicon wafer substrate with support frames and arrays of first level electrodes on the substrate surface. The first level electrodes are connected to memory cells in addressing circuitry in the wafer. A second process forms a plurality of second level electrodes, landing tips, and hinge support posts on the surfaces of control substrate. A third process forms a plurality of mirror plates with hidden hinges on each pairs of support posts. Lastly in a fourth process, the fabricated wafer is separated into individual spatial light modulation device dies before finally removing remaining sacrificial materials.
A plurality of first level electrodes and support frames are formed by patterning a plurality of vias through the passivation layer of circuitry opening up the addressing nodes in the control substrate (step 820). To enhance the adhesion for subsequent electromechanical layer, the via and contact openings are exposed to a 2000 watts of RF or microwave plasma with 2 torr total pressures of a mixture of O2, CF4, and H2O gases at a ratio of 40:1:5 at about 250° C. temperatures for less than five minutes. An electromechanical layer is deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) or plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) depending on the materials selected filling via and forming an electrode layer on the surface of control substrate (step 821). The deposition of the electromechanical layer and the subsequent formation of the vias are illustrated in
Then the electromechanical layer is patterned and anisotropically etched through to form a plurality of electrodes and support frames (step 822). The partially fabricated wafer is tested to ensure the electrical functionality before proceeding to further processes (step 823). The formation of electrodes and support frames are illustrated in
According to one embodiment, the electromechanical layer deposited and patterned in the steps 821 and 822 can includes a metal including, for example, a pure Al, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum film, an Al/poly-Si composite, an Al—Cu alloy, or an Al—Si alloy. While each of these metals has slightly different etching characteristics, they all can be etched in similar chemistry to plasma etching of Al. A two step processes can be carried out to anisotropically etch aluminum metallization layers. First, the wafer is etched in inductively coupled plasma while flowing with BCl3, Cl2, and Ar mixtures at flow rates of 100 sccm, 20 sccm, and 20 sccm respectively. The operating pressure is in the range of 10 to 50 mTorr, the inductive coupled plasma bias power is 300 watts, and the source power is 1000 watts. During the etching process, wafer is cooled with a backside helium gas flow of 20 sccm at a pressure of 1 Torr. Since the Al pattern can not simply be removed from the etching chamber into ambient atmosphere, a second oxygen plasma treatment step must be performed to clean and passivate Al surfaces. In a passivation process, the surfaces of partially fabricated wafer is exposed to a 2000 watts of RF or microwave plasma with 2 torr pressures of a 3000 sccm of H2O vapor at about 250° C. temperatures for less than three minutes.
According to another embodiment, the electromechanical layer is silicon metallization, which can take the form of a polysilicon, a polycides, or a silicide. While each of these electromechanical layers has slightly different etching characteristics, they all can be etched in similar chemistry to plasma etching of polysilicon. Anisotropic etching of polysilicon can be accomplished with most Cl and F based feedstock, such as Cl2, BCl3, CF4, NF3, SF6, HBr, and their mixtures with Ar, N2, O2, and H2. The poly silicon or silicide layer (WSix, or TiSix, or TaSi) is etched anisotropically in inductively decoupled plasma while flowing Cl2, BCl3, HBr, and HeO2 gases at flow rates of 100 sccm, 50 sccm, 20 sccm, and 10 sccm respectively. In another embodiment, the polycide layer is etched anisotropically in a reactive ion etch chamber flowing Cl2, SF6, HBr, and HeO2 gases at a flow rate of 50 sccm, 40 sccm, 40 sccm, and 10 sccm, respectively. In both cases, the operating pressure is in the range of 10 to 30 mTorr, the inductively coupled plasma bias power is 100 watts, and the source power is 1200 watts. During the etching process, wafer is cooled with a backside helium gas flow of 20 sccm at a pressure of 1 Torr. A typical etch rate can reach 9000 angstroms per minute.
A plurality of second level electrodes can be fabricated on the surface of the control substrate to reduce the distance between the mirror plate and the electrode on the substrate, which improves the electrostatic efficiency. Landing tips can also be fabricated on the substrate to reduce stiction between the mirror plate and the substrate.
A layer of sacrificial material is deposited with a predetermined thickness on the surface of partially fabricated wafer (step 830). In accordance with the present specification, the sacrificial material can include amorphous carbon, polyarylene, polyarylene ether (which can be referred to as SILK), and hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ). Amorphous carbon can be deposited by CVD or PECVD. The polyarylene, polyarylene ether, and hydrogen silsesquioxane can be spin-coated on the surface. The sacrificial layer will first be hardened before the subsequent build up, the deposited amorphous carbon can harden by thermal annealing after the deposition by CVD or PECVD process. SILK or HSQ can be hardened by UV exposure and optionally thermal and plasma treatments.
The sacrificial layer is next patterned to form via and contact openings for a plurality of second level electrodes, landing tips, and support posts (step 831). A second electromechanical layer is then deposited by PVD or PECVD depending on the materials selected forming a plurality of second level electrodes, landing tips, and support posts (step 832). Finally, the second electromechanical layer is planarized to a predetermined thickness by CMP (step 833). The height of second level electrodes and landing tips can be less than one micron. Step 830 through step 833 can be repeated to build a number of steps in the step electrodes 221a and 221b. The number of repeated steps 830-833 is determined by the number of steps in the step electrodes 221a and 221b. The steps 830-833 can be bypassed (i.e., from step 823 directly to step 840) when a flat electrode is fabricated on the control substrate.
Once the raised multi-level step electrodes and landing tips are formed on the CMOS control circuitry substrate, a plurality of mirror plates with hidden hinges on each pairs of support posts are fabricated. The processes started with depositing sacrificial materials with a predetermined thickness on the surface of partially fabricated wafer (step 840). Then sacrificial layer is patterned to form via for a plurality of hinge support posts (step 841). The sacrificial layer is further hardened before a deposition of electromechanical materials by PVD or PECVD depending on materials selected to fill the vias and form a thin layer for torsion hinges and part of mirror plates (step 842). The electromechanical layer planarized to a predetermined thickness by CMP (step 843). The electromechanical layer is patterned with a plurality of openings to form a plurality of torsion hinges (step 850). To form a plurality of cavities in the lower portion of mirror plate and torsion hinges positioned under the cavity, sacrificial materials are again deposited to fill the opening gaps around the torsion hinges and to form a thin layer with a predetermined thickness on top of hinges (step 851). The thickness can be slightly larger than G=0.5×W×SIN(θ), where W is the cross-section width of hinge support posts 105. The sacrificial layer patterned to form a plurality of spacers on top of each torsion hinge (step 852). More electromechanical materials are deposited to cover the surface of partially fabricated wafer (step 853).
The sacrificial materials in the steps 840-851 can also be selected from the above disclosed materials including amorphous carbon, polyarylene and polyarylene ether (SILK), and hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ). Amorphous carbon can be deposited by CVD or PECVD. Polyarylene, polyarylene ether, and hydrogen silsesquioxane can be spin-coated on the surface. Moreover, different sacrificial materials may be implemented at different steps of the fabrication process.
The electromechanical layer is planarized to a predetermined thickness by CMP (step 854) before a plurality of openings are patterned. The sacrificial materials are removed through the openings to form a plurality of air gaps between individual mirror plates (step 870).
The reflectivity of mirror surface may be enhanced by a PVD deposition of a 400 angstroms or less thick reflective layer selected from the group consisting of aluminum, gold, and combinations thereof (step 860).
The sacrificial materials disclosed in the present specification can be easily removed in dry processes such as isotropic plasma etching, microwave plasma, or activated gas vapor. The sacrificial material can be removed from below other layers of materials. The removal can also be highly selective relative to common semiconductor components. For example, amorphous carbon can be removed at a selectivity ratio of 8:1 relative to silicon and 15:1 relative to silicon oxide. Thus, the disclosed sacrificial materials can be removed with minimal wearing to the intended micro structures.
Another advantage of disclosed sacrificial materials is that they can be removed by isotropic etching in dry processes. The dry removal process is simpler than the wet processes in cleaning the conventional sacrificial materials. Isotropic etching allows convenient removal of the disclosed sacrificial materials that are positioned under an upper structural layer such as a mirror plate, which cannot easily be accomplished by dry anisotropic etching processes.
Another advantage of sacrificial material based on amorphous carbon is that it can be deposited and removed by conventional CMOS processes. Still another advantage of using amorphous carbon as a sacrificial material is that it can maintain high carbon purity and carbon does not usually contaminate to most micro devices.
To separate the fabricated wafer into individual spatial light modulation device dies, a thick layer of sacrificial materials is deposited to cover the fabricated wafer surfaces for protection (step 880). Then the fabricated wafer is partially sawed (step 881) before separating into individual dies by scribing and breaking (step 882). The spatial light modulator device die is attached to the chip base with wire bonds and interconnects (step 883) before a RF or microwave plasma striping of the remaining sacrificial materials (step 884). The SLM device die is further lubricated by exposing to a PECVD coating of lubricants in the interfaces between the mirror plate and the surface of electrodes and landing tips (step 885) before electro-optical functional test (step 886). Finally, the SLM device is hermetically sealed with a glass window lip (step 887) and sent to burn-in process for reliability and robust quality control (step 888).
One problem with the operation of micro mirror array is the stiction of micro mirror at a mechanical landing position. The surface contact adhesion could increases beyond the electrostatic force of control circuitry causing the device from stiction failure in a moisture environment. To reduce the contact adhesion between the mirror plate 102 and landing tips 222a and 222b, and protect the mechanical wear degradation of interfaces during the touch and impact of angular cross over transition, a thin lubricated coating is deposited on the lower portion of mirror plate 102 and on the surfaces of step electrodes 221a and 221b and landing tips 222a and 222b. The lubricants chosen should be thermally stable, low vapor pressure, and non-reactive with metallization and electromechanical materials that formed the micro mirror array devices.
A think layer of fluorocarbon material can be coated to the surfaces of the lower portion of mirror plate and on the surface of electrodes and landing tips. The SLM device die is exposed to plasma of fluorocarbons, such as CF4, at a substrate temperature of about 200° C. temperatures for less than five minutes. The fluorine on the surfaces 103c serves to prevent adherence or attachment of water to the interfaces of mirror plate and the underneath electrodes and landing tips, which eliminates the impact of humidity in the sticion of mirror plate during landing operation. Coating fluorocarbon film in the interfaces between the mirror plate 102 and step electrodes 221a and 221b and landing tips 222a and 222b provides a sufficient repellent performance to water due to the fluorine atoms existing near the exposed surfaces.
In another embodiment, a perfluoropolyether (PFPE) or a mixture of PFPE or a phosphazine derivative is deposited by PECVD in the interfaces between the mirror plate 102 and step electrodes 221a and 221b and landing tips 222a and 222b at a substrate temperature of about 200° C. temperatures for less than five minutes. PFPE molecules have an aggregate vapor pressure in the range of 1×10−6 to 1×10−11 atm. The thickness of lubricant film is less than 1000 angstroms. To improve the adhesion and lubricating performance on the surface of a metallization or an electromechanical layer, phosphate esters may be chosen because of its affinity with the metallic surface.
A more detailed description of each process to fabricate a high contrast spatial light modulator is illustrated in a series of cross-section diagrams.
In a typical CMOS fabrication process, the control silicon wafer substrate is covered with a passivation layer 601 such as silicon oxide or silicon nitride. The passivated control substrate 600 is patterned and etched anisotropically to form via 621 connected to the word-line/bit-line interconnects in the addressing circuitry, shown in
Next,
A plurality of second steps of the step electrodes 221a and 221b, landing tips 222a and 222b, and hinge support posts 105 are formed on the surface of partially fabricated wafer, through the following steps. A micron thick sacrificial material is deposited or spin-coated on the substrate surface to form a sacrificial layer 604, shown in
Then, sacrificial layer 604 is patterned to form a plurality of via and contact openings for second level electrodes 632, landing tips 633, and support posts 631 (location of opening for support post 631 shown in phantom) as shown in
After the CMP planarization,
The hinge layer 605 can have the thickness in the range of about 400 to 1200 angstroms. The CMP planarization can exert significant mechanical strain on the thin hinge layer 605. A drawback of the conventional sacrificial material based on photo resist is that it may not be able to provide the mechanical strength to support hinge layer 605. In contrast, the sacrificial materials (amorphous carbon, HSQ, or SILK) disclosed in the present specification have higher mechanical strength after hardening comparing to the hardened photo resist. The disclosed sacrificial materials can much better support the hinge layer 605 during the planarization of the hinge layer 605, which allow the hinge layer 605 to stay physically intact and reducing fabrication failure rate.
The hinge layer 605 of the partially fabricated wafer is patterned and anisotropically etched with openings 643 to form a plurality of hinges 106 in the electromechanical layers 605 as shown in
To form a mirror plate with the hinges 106 under each cavities in the lower portion of mirror plate 102, more electromechanical material 623 is deposited to cover a plurality of sacrificial spacers, as shown in
The SLM device die is further coated with an anti-stiction layer inside the opening structures by exposing to a PECVD of fluorocarbon at about 200° C. temperatures for less than five minutes (step 885) before plasma cleaning and electro-optical functional test (step 886). Finally, the SLM device is hermetically sealed with a glass window lip (step 887) and sent to burn-in process for reliability and robust quality control (step 888).
In another example,
A layer of sacrificial material 2740 is next introduced over the layer 2710 and the electrically conductive material 2730, as shown in
A recess hole 2750 is next etched in the layer of sacrificial material 2740 using standard semiconductor etching processing to expose the upper surface of the electric conductive material 2730, as shown in
The cantilever material in the cantilever layer 2760 is then etched in areas 2770 to expose the upper surface of the layer of sacrificial material 2740, as shown in
The cantilever 2780 includes a cantilever layer 2790 and a cantilever support post 2795. The substrate 2700 can include a control circuit that can control the electric potential of the cantilever plate 2790 through the electric conductive material 2730 and the cantilever post 2795. In one embodiment, an electric potential difference can be produced between the cantilever plate 2790 and an electrode (not shown) over the layer 2710. The cantilever plate 2790 can be actuated to move by the electrostatic force caused by the electric potential difference.
Although multiple embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood by persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and details can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope. The disclosed sacrificial materials can be applied to many other types of micro devices in addition to the examples described above. For example, the disclosed sacrificial materials and the methods can be used to form micro mechanical devices, micro electrical mechanical devices (MEMS), microfluidic devices, micro sensors, micro actuators, micro display devices, printing devices, and optical waveguide. The disclosed sacrificial materials and the methods are generally suitable for the fabrication of micro devices comprising cavities, recesses, micro bridges, micro tunnels, or overhanging micro structures, such as cantilevers. The disclosed sacrificial materials and methods can be advantageously applied to fabricate such micro devices over substrates that contain electronic circuits. Furthermore, the disclosed sacrificial materials and methods are particularly suitable to fabricate micro devices over substrates containing electronic circuit wherein high processing is required.
This application is a continuation-in-part and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 120 of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/974,468, filed Oct. 26, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,167,298 which claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/514,589, filed Oct. 27, 2003. The disclosure of each prior application is considered part of and is incorporated by reference in the disclosure of this application.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60514589 | Oct 2003 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10974468 | Oct 2004 | US |
| Child | 11407014 | US |
