We present a novel process technology, which enables precision micro machining of glass wafers. With this Glass Flow Process GFT [1,21, which is based on viscous deformation at temperatures above the glass transition temperature T,, any surface topography available on a silicon substrate can be moulded into Borosilicate glasses, especially into bondable glasses'like Borofloat' or Pyrex'. Beside the replication of silicon structures this technique allows the fabrication of optical micro lens arrays with high aspect ratios and minimum spacing. Introducing this GFP technology to MEMS processing enables the deep structuring of glass substrates and opens a wide range of new applications. Optical quality micro lenses with saggital heights above 100 pm are demonstrated.In this paper an insight description of the GFP technology is given and the functionality of this new technology is presented by optical measurements of micro lens demonstrators.
Today angular rate sensors (gyroscopes) for automotive application are fabricated by a silicon surface micromachining process (SMM). One critical performance parameter of these micromachined vibratory gyroscopes is the mechanical coupling between the drive and sense mode due to manufacturing imperfections. Excessive coupling, called quadrature error, leads to large zero rate output (ZRO or QBias). This paper discusses for the first time, the dependence between quadrature error and profile asymmetries in relevant spring structures with respect to non-uniformities of the silicon deep reactive ion etch (Si DRiE) systems used for the SMM processing.
Today MEMS inertial sensors have already entered a broad market area and have mastered the step into high volume mass production, as seen on 3-axis accelerometers. The competitive product innovation cycle however gives constant pressure on the development of multi-axis and multi-type sensor systems to finally conclude in a full inertial measurement unit (IMU). Up to now the combination of accelerometer and gyrometer on one chip was limited by the incompatibility of the different operational pressure requirements. In this paper we introduce a new technology approach enabling the allocation of different cavity pressures on wafer level. This new concept is being industrialized with the new combi sensor SD755, which contains in a first step one accelerometer and one angular rate sensor on the same silicon chip
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