ALD & ALE for Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)
The conformality and thickness control achieved by ALD and ALE are very desirable for coating and etching NEMS/MEMS and other nano/micron-sized devices. We are collaborating with Prof. Victor Bright’s group in Mechanical Engineering in this area and have worked on many issues using ALD and ALE to address nanofabrication issues. We also have laboratory space in Mechanical Engineering adjacent to Prof. Bright’s laboratory to facilitate this collaboration.
Our recent work has fabricated hemispherical micro-resonators (the smallest wine glasses in the world!) [1]. We have demonstrated the fabrication of ultrathin three-dimensional devices using ALD on polyimide [2]. ALD has also been employed to fabricate ultrathin tungsten nanobridges and we have examined their electrical and thermal conductivity [3]. We are also using ALE to make nano/micron-sized devices even smaller.
1. Jason M. Gray, John P. Houlton, Jonas C. Gertsch, Joseph J. Brown, Charles T. Rogers, Steven M. George and Victor M. Bright, “Hemispherical Micro-Resonators from Atomic Layer Deposition", J. Micromech. Microeng. 24, 125028 (2014).
2. Nathan T. Eigenfeld, Jason M. Gray, Joseph J. Brown, George D. Skidmore, Steven M. George and Victor M. Bright, “Ultra-thin 3D Nano-Devices from Atomic Layer Deposition on Polyimide”, Adv. Mater.26, 3962-3967 (2014).
3. Nathan T. Eigenfeld, Jonas C. Gertsch, George D. Skidmore, Steven M. George, Victor M. Bright, “Electrical and Thermal Conductivity in Ultra-Thin Freestanding Atom Layer Deposited W Nanobridges”, Nanoscale7, 17923-17928 (2015).