Method for making a transducer, transducer made therefrom, and applications thereof

US8174352B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• Cornell University · IT
• United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force · US

Inventors

• Jeevak M. Parpia · Ithaca, US
• Harold G. Craighead · Ithaca, US
• Joshua D. Cross · Flagstaff, US
• Bojan Ilic · Ithaca, US
• Maxim Zalalutdinov · Silver Spring, US
• Jeffrey W. Baldwin · Fairfax, US
• Brian H. Houston · Fairfax, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 26, 2009
• Grant date: May 8, 2012
• Expiry date: Jun 26, 2029

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10T29/49007
• WIPO field: Micro-structural and nano-technology
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A method for manufacturing or preparing thin-film stacks that exhibit moderate, finite, stress-dependent resistance and which can be incorporated into a transduction mechanism that enables simple, effective signal to be read out from a micro- or nano-mechanical structure. As the structure is driven, the resistance of the intermediate layers is modulated in tandem with the motion, and with suitable dc-bias, the motion is directly converted into detectable voltage. In general, detecting signal from MEMS or NEMS devices is difficult, especially using a method that is able to be integrated with standard electronics. The thin-film manufacturing or preparation technique described herein is therefore a technical advance in the field of MEMS/NEMS that could enable new applications as well as the ability to easily develop CMOS-MEMS integrated fabrication techniques. Also disclosed are: (i) transducers where current flows across a piezo layer from one major surface to the opposite major surface; and (ii) methods of making a transducer the resistivity of a piezoresistive layer is decreased and/or the gauge factor of a piezoresistive layer is increased.