Meso-microelectromechanical system having a glass beam and method for its fabrication

Abstract

A meso-electromechanical system ( 900, 1100 ) includes a substrate ( 215 ), a standoff ( 405, 1160 ) disposed on a surface of the substrate, a first electrostatic pattern ( 205, 1105, 1110, 1115, 1120 ) disposed on the surface of the substrate, and a glass beam ( 810 ). The glass beam ( 810 ) has a fixed region ( 820 ) attached to the standoff and has a second electrostatic pattern ( 815, 1205, 1210, 1215, 1220 ) on a cantilevered location of the glass beam. The second electrostatic pattern is substantially co-extensive with and parallel to the first electrostatic pattern. The second electrostatic pattern has a relaxed separation ( 925 ) from the first electrostatic pattern when the first and second electrostatic patterns are in a non-energized state. In some embodiments, a mirror is formed by the electrostatic materials that form the second electrostatic pattern. The glass beam may be patterned using sandblasting ( 140 ).

1 . A meso-electromechanical system comprising: 
 a substrate;    at least one standoff disposed on a surface of the substrate;    a first electrostatic pattern disposed on the surface of the substrate; and    a glass beam having a fixed region attached to the at least one standoff that has a second electrostatic pattern on a cantilevered location of the glass beam, wherein the second electrostatic pattern is substantially co-extensive with and parallel to the first electrostatic pattern, and wherein the second electrostatic pattern has a relaxed separation from the first electrostatic pattern when the first and second electrostatic patterns are in a non-energized state.    
   
   
       2 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 1 , wherein the glass beam is between 10 and 75 microns thick.  
   
   
       3 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 1 , wherein the relaxed separation is between 5 and 200 microns.  
   
   
       4 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one standoff is between 7 and 200 microns thick.  
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the first electrostatic pattern comprises a conductive metal layer having a thickness between 2 microns and 70 microns.  
   
   
       6 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 1 , wherein the second electrostatic pattern is a conductive metal that is patterned to include an electrical termination area at the fixed region of the glass beam.  
   
   
       7 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 1 , wherein the glass beam further comprises a mirror that is near the cantilevered location.  
   
   
       8 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 7 , wherein the mirror is substantially parallel to the electrostatic pattern.  
   
   
       9 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 7 , wherein a light directing device is affixed to the glass beam near the cantilevered location.  
   
   
       10 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 1 , wherein the mirror is formed by the second electrostatic pattern.  
   
   
       11 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a first electrical contact attached to the surface of the glass beam; and    a second electrical contact that is stationary relative to the glass beam.    
   
   
       12 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 1 , wherein the first and second electrostatic patterns comprise a first pair of electrostatic patterns, further comprising at least one additional pair of electrostatic patterns, wherein each of the at least one additional pair comprises: 
 a first electrostatic pattern disposed on the surface of the substrate;    a second electrostatic pattern on a cantilevered location of the glass beam, wherein the second electrostatic pattern is substantially co-extensive with and parallel to the first electrostatic pattern when the meso-electromechanical system is non-energized.    
   
   
       13 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 12 , wherein the first pair and one of the at least one additional pair (a second pair) are on a first common axis of the glass beam.  
   
   
       14 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 13 , wherein a third pair and a fourth pair of the at least one additional pair are on a second common axis of the glass beam that is perpendicular to the first common axis.  
   
   
       15 . The meso-electromechanical system according to  claim 14 , wherein the meso-electromechanical system is coupled to a controller that is configured to control the meso-electromechanical system to generate a scanned image using a light beam that reflects off a mirror on the glass beam.  
   
   
       16 . A method for fabricating a meso-electromechanical system, comprising: 
 forming a first electrostatic pattern within a device region of a substrate from a metal layer on the substrate;    disposing a sacrificial photodielectric layer over the device region;    exposing the sacrificial photodielectric layer to form at least one latent standoff region;    coating top and bottom surfaces of a glass dielectric with an electrostatic material;    laminating the coated glass dielectric to the sacrificial photodielectric layer;    forming a patterned protective layer on the coated glass dielectric having a pattern of a glass beam that includes a second electrostatic pattern substantially co-extensive with the first electrostatic pattern;    removing glass and electrostatic material not within the pattern of the glass beam; and    removing portions of the sacrificial photodielectric layer other than the at least one latent standoff region, thereby forming at least one standoff.    
   
   
       17 . The method according to  claim 16 , 
 wherein forming the patterned protective layer comprises 
 applying a photosensitive etch resist at least 50 microns thick on the top surface of the glass dielectric, and  
 exposing the photosensitive etch resist using a pattern; and  
   wherein removing the glass and electrostatic material not within the pattern of the glass beam comprises sandblasting.    
   
   
       18 . The method according to  claim 16 , 
 wherein forming the patterned protective layer comprises 
 applying a photosensitive etch resist, and  
 exposing the photosensitive etch resist using a pattern; and  
   wherein removing the glass and electrostatic material not within the pattern of the glass beam comprises applying a glass etchant.    
   
   
       19 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein removing portions of the sacrificial photodielectric layer further comprises solvent developing using ultrasonic agitation.  
   
   
       20 . The method according to  claim 16 , further comprising: 
 forming an electrical connection to the second electrostatic pattern at a portion of the glass beam laminated to the at least one standoff.    
   
   
       21 . An electronic equipment, comprising: 
 a meso-electromechanical system comprising 
 a substrate,  
 at least one standoff disposed on a surface of the substrate,  
 a first electrostatic pattern disposed on the surface of the substrate, and  
 a glass beam having a fixed region attached to the at least one standoff that has a second electrostatic pattern on a cantilevered location of the glass beam, wherein the second electrostatic pattern is substantially co-extensive with and parallel to the first electrostatic pattern, and wherein the second electrostatic pattern has a first relaxed separation from the first electrostatic pattern when the first and second electrostatic patterns are in a non-energized state; and  
   a controller coupled to the first and second electrostatic patterns that controls movement of the glass beam by energizing the electrostatic patterns.