Development of MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) actuator and micromirror Technology

MEMS驱动器和微镜具有体积小、成本低的特点，在汽车、生物医学、通信、显示和消费电子等行业得到了广泛的应用。未来的研究将集中在新型MEMS致动器和微镜的开发及其应用上。长期目标是加深对MEMS致动器和微镜及其应用的理解和产生新的知识，这将通过追求三个目标来实现。在目标1中，将开发一种创新的MEMS表面微机械执行器，它将使当前设计的力/扭矩增加一倍。提出了一种将SOI(Silicon On Insulator)层粘接到表面微加工芯片上的新工艺，使表面微机械加工的微镜表面具有高平坦度、无脱孔和无凹陷的高质量表面。将这种新型微驱动器与SOI PolyMUMPS键合制造技术相结合，将开发出一种微镜和基于微镜的汽车平视显示器(HUD)，其性能将远远优于现有设计，即5~10倍的体积和成本，并可显著提高驾驶安全性和舒适性。该提案的目标2将研究柔性印刷电路板(FPCB)微镜，这是我们团队最近开始的一个新领域。重点研究FPCB族聚酰亚胺薄膜的粘弹性能所引起的影响以及减轻或克服这些影响的控制方法。此外，还将开发一个2D FPCB微反射镜来构建激光图案指示器，以大大提高表示式激光指示器的性能。本方案的目标3将开发一种用于内窥镜OCT(光学相干层析)成像系统的新型微镜，以实现对内腔器官的活体和非侵入性检查和诊断，或进行实时图像引导手术。这种新型微镜将具有无线驱动的垂直扫描自由度(DOF)和由管状压电电机驱动的第二自由度以实现全周旋转。从而克服了目前OCT内窥镜周向扫描不足的局限性，这是OCT内窥镜广泛临床应用的主要障碍。

MEMS actuators and micromirrors are characterized as small size and low cost, and have be widely used in automotive, biomedical, communication, display, and consumer electronics industries. The proposed research will focus on the development of novel MEMS actuators and micromirrors and their applications. The long term goal is to gain deeper understanding and generate new knowledge of MEMS actuators and micromirrors and their applications, which will be achieved through pursuing three objectives. In objective 1, an innovative MEMS surface micromachined actuator will be developed which will double the force/torque of that of the current design. A novel fabrication technology of bonding an SOI (Silicon on Insulator) layer to surface micromachined chip will be developed, by which the surface micromachined micromirror can have a high quality surface with high flatness, no releasing holes and an-stiction dimples. Combining the novel micro actuator and the SOI + PolyMUMPS bonding fabrication technology, a micromirror and a micromirror based automotive Head-up Display (HUD) will be developed, which will have much superior performance than the existing designs, i.e., 5 ~ 10X smaller and cheaper, and can significantly enhance driving safety and comfort. The proposal's objective 2 will investigate the FPCB (Flexible Printed Circuit Board) micromirror, which is a new field started by our group recently. The investigation will focus on the study of FPCB polyimide film's viscoelastic property caused effects and control methods of alleviating or overcoming the effects. In addition, a 2D FPCB micromirror will be developed to construct laser pattern pointer to greatly enhance the presentation laser pointers' performance. The objective 3 of the current proposal will develop a novel micromirror for endoscopic OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) imaging system, which is highly desired to achieve in vivo and noninvasive inspection and diagnosis of internal luminal organs, or operate real-time image guided surgery. The novel micromirror will have wireless driven vertical scanning DOF (Degree of Freedom) and the second DOF driven by a tubular piezoelectric motor for full circumferential rotation. Thus it can overcome the limitation of the current OCT endoscope, i.e., not enough circumferential scanning, which is the main hurdle for OCT endoscope's wide clinic application.