Fabrication of a mechanically aligned single-wafer MEMS turbine with turbocharger

S. O. Pelekies; T. Schuhmann; W. G. Gardner; A. Camacho; J. M. Protz

doi:10.1117/12.862729

26 October 2010 Fabrication of a mechanically aligned single-wafer MEMS turbine with turbocharger

S. O. Pelekies, T. Schuhmann, W. G. Gardner, A. Camacho, J. M. Protz

Proceedings Volume 7833, Unmanned/Unattended Sensors and Sensor Networks VII; 783306 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.862729
Event: SPIE Security + Defence, 2010, Toulouse, France

Abstract

We describe the fabrication of a turbocharged, microelectromechanical system (MEMS) turbine. The turbine will be part of a standalone power unit and includes extra layers to connect the turbine to a generator. The project goal is to demonstrate the successful combination of several features, namely: silicon fusion bonding (SFB), a micro turbocharger [2], two rotors, mechanical alignment between two wafers [1], and the use of only one 5" silicon wafer. The dimension of the actual turbine casing will be 14mm. The turbine rotor will have a diameter of 8mm. Given these dimensions, MEMS processes are an adequate way to fabricate the device, but it will be necessary to stack up seven different layers to build the turbine, as it is not possible to construct it out of one thick wafer. SFB will be used for bonding because it permits the great precision necessary for high quality alignment. Yet a more precise alignment will be necessary between the layers that contain the turbine rotor, to decrease imbalance and guarantee operation at a very high rpm. To achieve these tight tolerances, a mechanical alignment feature announced by Liudi Jiang [1] is used. The alignment accuracy is expected to be around 200nm. Despite the fact that the turbine consists of multiple layers, it will be fabricated on only one silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. As a result, all layers are exposed to the same process flow. The fabrication process includes MEMS technology as photolithography, nine deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) steps, and six SFB operations. A total of 14 masks are necessary for the fabrication.

Citation Download Citation

S. O. Pelekies, T. Schuhmann, W. G. Gardner, A. Camacho, and J. M. Protz "Fabrication of a mechanically aligned single-wafer MEMS turbine with turbocharger", Proc. SPIE 7833, Unmanned/Unattended Sensors and Sensor Networks VII, 783306 (26 October 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.862729

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