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    Movable MEMS Devices on Flexible Silicon

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    Name:
    Sally Ahmed_Thesis Final.pdf
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    2.988Mb
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    PDF
    Description:
    Sally Ahmed Final Thesis
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    Type
    Thesis
    Authors
    Ahmed, Sally cc
    Advisors
    Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa cc
    Committee members
    Alouini, Mohamed-Slim cc
    Wang, Peng cc
    Program
    Electrical Engineering
    KAUST Department
    Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) Division
    Date
    2013-05-05
    Embargo End Date
    2014-05-08
    Permanent link to this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/10754/290920
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Access Restrictions
    At the time of archiving, the student author of this thesis opted to temporarily restrict access to it. The full text of this thesis became available to the public after the expiration of the embargo on 2014-05-08.
    Abstract
    Flexible electronics have gained great attention recently. Applications such as flexible displays, artificial skin and health monitoring devices are a few examples of this technology. Looking closely at the components of these devices, although MEMS actuators and sensors can play critical role to extend the application areas of flexible electronics, fabricating movable MEMS devices on flexible substrates is highly challenging. Therefore, this thesis reports a process for fabricating free standing and movable MEMS devices on flexible silicon substrates; MEMS flexure thermal actuators have been fabricated to illustrate the viability of the process. Flexure thermal actuators consist of two arms: a thin hot arm and a wide cold arm separated by a small air gap; the arms are anchored to the substrate from one end and connected to each other from the other end. The actuator design has been modified by adding etch holes in the anchors to suit the process of releasing a thin layer of silicon from the bulk silicon substrate. Selecting materials that are compatible with the release process was challenging. Moreover, difficulties were faced in the fabrication process development; for example, the structural layer of the devices was partially etched during silicon release although it was protected by aluminum oxide which is not attacked by the releasing gas . Furthermore, the thin arm of the thermal actuator was thinned during the fabrication process but optimizing the patterning and etching steps of the structural layer successfully solved this problem. Simulation was carried out to compare the performance of the original and the modified designs for the thermal actuators and to study stress and temperature distribution across a device. A fabricated thermal actuator with a 250 μm long hot arm and a 225 μm long cold arm separated by a 3 μm gap produced a deflection of 3 μm before silicon release, however, the fabrication process must be optimized to obtain fully functioning devices on flexible silicon.
    Citation
    Ahmed, S. (2013). Movable MEMS Devices on Flexible Silicon. KAUST Research Repository. https://doi.org/10.25781/KAUST-Q71R6
    DOI
    10.25781/KAUST-Q71R6
    ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
    10.25781/KAUST-Q71R6
    Scopus Count
    Collections
    MS Theses; Electrical and Computer Engineering Program; Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) Division

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