SBIR Phase I: Dual Substrate Cantilevered MEMS switch

这个小企业创新研究计划第一阶段（SBIR）项目将测试和确认一种制造小型悬臂式MEMS电气开关的新方法。该方法避免或改善了目前使用表面加工方法制造这些开关所存在的许多问题。该方法将开关元件划分在两个基板之间，其中移动悬臂部分位于上部基板上，固定触点位于下部基板上。所述移动部分可以由单晶硅的无应力层形成，因此没有翘曲或扭曲的倾向。使用两个基板允许触点在整个加工过程中完全暴露，直到基板粘合在一起形成开关。由于触点是暴露的，因此可以在密封两个晶圆之间的密封之前有效地清洗它们，从而减少结的接触电阻。此外，双基板方法提供了许多使用表面加工方法无法获得的设计选项。如果成功，这里描述的方法将用于生产MEMS悬臂式开关，用于广泛的应用，从直流电源处理应用到射频和雷达应用。由于MEMS开关具有高载流、高频率、小尺寸和低成本的特性，因此可以在广泛的器件中作为FET开关或微型继电器的可行替代品。该方法也可以适用于其他类型的MEMS器件，例如传感器和致动器，它们可能具有悬浮在基板上的可移动组件，该组件与基板上的固定组件相互作用。因此，这种方法可能从根本上改变这些器件的制造方式，并开辟目前MEMS器件未提供的广泛应用。

This Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase I (SBIR) project will test and confirm a novel approach to the manufacture of small cantilevered MEMS electrical switches. The approach obviates or ameliorates a multitude of problems which exist using the present surface machining approach to the fabrication of these switches. The approach divides the switch components between two substrates, with the moving cantilevered portion on an upper substrate, and the stationary contacts on the lower substrate. The moving portion may be formed from a stress-free layer of single crystal silicon, and therefore has no tendency to warp or distort. Using two substrates allows the contacts to be fully exposed throughout processing, until the substrates are bonded together to form the switch. Because the contacts are exposed, they can be effectively cleaned just prior to sealing in the hermetic seal between the two wafers, thereby reducing the contact resistance of the junctions. In addition, the dual substrate approach affords a number of design options not available using the surface machining approach. If successful, the approach described here will be used to produce MEMS cantilevered switches for a broad range of applications, from DC power handling applications to RF and radar applications. Because of their high current-carrying, high frequency characteristics with small size and low cost, the MEMS switches may serve as viable replacements for FET switches or micro relays in a wide range of devices. The approach may also be applicable to other sorts of MEMS devices, such as sensors and actuators, which may have a movable component suspended over a substrate which interacts with a fixed component on the substrate. This approach may therefore fundamentally alter how these devices are manufactured, and open up a wide range of applications not presently served by MEMS devices.