Development of MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) actuator and micromirror Technology

MEMS致动器和微镜具有体积小、成本低的特点，广泛应用于汽车、生物医药、通信、显示、消费电子等行业。本文将重点研究新型MEMS致动器和微镜的开发及其应用。长期目标是获得更深入的理解和产生MEMS致动器和微镜及其应用的新知识，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表面微机械致动器，它将使当前设计的力/扭矩增加一倍。提出了一种将绝缘体上硅（SOI）层粘接在微加工芯片表面的新工艺，该工艺可使微加工微镜表面具有高平整度、无释放孔和抗粘窝的高质量表面。将新型微致动器与SOI + PolyMUMPS键合制造技术相结合，将开发出一种基于微镜和微镜的汽车平视显示器（HUD），其性能将比现有设计小5 ~ 10倍，成本更低，并且可以显着提高驾驶安全性和舒适性。提案的目标2将研究FPCB（柔性印刷电路板）微镜，这是我们小组最近开始的一个新领域。重点研究FPCB聚酰亚胺薄膜粘弹性性能的影响以及减轻或克服这些影响的控制方法。此外，还将开发一种二维FPCB微镜来构建激光图案笔，从而大大提高激光笔的显示性能。本提案的目标3将开发一种用于内窥镜OCT（光学相干断层扫描）成像系统的新型微镜，该系统非常希望实现内部腔器官的体内和无创检查和诊断，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和由管状压电电机驱动的第二自由度，以实现全周向旋转。从而克服了现有OCT内窥镜的局限性，即没有足够的周向扫描，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.