micromachined mechanisms from I bulk silicon

Abstract. This paper reports on the development of a new technology intended for the wafer level fabrication and assembly of fully integrated micromechanisms. that has been used to fabricate a variety of micromechanical devices. The overall process utilizes three wafers: two silicon and one glass. All the major mechanical elements, including gears and micromotors. are fabricated from one silicon wafer whereas the mechanical links between these elements are fabricated from a second silicon wafer. These wafers are successively aligned and bonded to a glass wafer which forms the substrate and are then dissolved in EDP to free the mechanisms. This procedure permits wafer-level batch assembly of micromechanical systems. A number of bulk silicon electrostatic micromotors 5-10 " thick and gear trains have been fabricated and linked to each other on the same chip. The results show that this is a very viable technology that allows mechanical power to be coupled between various devices. T h m torhnnlnnu ic h.mA nn 9 her---Anna.4 h..IL oil;.--- AieenIwoA <uafar n w n r r. ~