Innovative Micro Technology

Intri-plex Technologies Inc.

David M Erlach

Gregory A Carlson

Ryan John Schmidt

Paul Wesley Smith

Frederic C Petersen

Adam Donald Sutton

Robert J Tench

Jeffery Frank Summers

Alok Paranjpye

Douglas L Thompson

A disk clamp for clamping a plurality of disks within a disk drive has a single fastening hole located at its symmetrical center sized to pass the shaft of a screw having a head diameter larger than the fastening hole. The screw fastens the disk clamp to a motor hub supporting the plurality of disks. The disk clamp has a moat around the fastening hole, at a maximum diameter that is smaller than the head diameter of the head on the fastening screw. The moat may be circular, have spike trenches angled toward the fastening hole, or be spiral. The diameter of the spiral moat decreases in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction toward the fastening hole. The midsection of the disk which the screw head covers is biased at a negative angle toward the fastening hole forcing particles generated during assembly toward the fastening hole of the disk clamp.

Debris reducing disk clamp for disk drives

Systems and methods for applying a thin layer of a liquid to the surface of a wafer with topography formed therein. The systems and methods include spreading a deposit of the liquid into a thin film on a wafer support, lowering the wafer onto the film, removing the wafer with an adhering layer of the film, positioning the wafer over a device wafer with the liquid film disposed between the wafers, curing the thin layer. The thin layer may be a UV adhesive which bonds the wafers upon exposure to UV light.

Method and apparatus for applying thin liquid coatings

A method for providing access to a feature on a device wafer, and located outside an encapsulation region is described. The method includes forming a cavity in the lid wafer, aligning the lid wafer with the device wafer so that the cavity is located substantially above the feature, and removing material substantially uniformly from the bottom surface of the lid wafer, until an aperture is formed at the cavity, over the feature on the device wafer. By removing material from the lid wafer in a substantially uniform manner, difficulties with the prior art procedure of saw cutting, such as alignment and debris generation, are avoided.

System and method for providing access to an encapsulated device

Systems and methods for forming an encapsulated device include a hermetic seal which seals an insulating environment between two substrates, one of which supports the device. The hermetic seal is formed by an alloy of two metal layers, one deposited on a first substrate and the other deposited on the second substrate, along with a raised feature formed on the first or the second substrate. At least one of the metal layers may be deposited conformally over the raised feature. The raised feature penetrates the molten material of the first or the second metal layers during formation of the alloy, and produces a spectrum of stoichiometries for the formation of the desired alloy, as a function of the distance from the raised feature. At some distance from the raised feature, the proper ratio of the first metal to the second metal exists to form an alloy of the preferred stoichiometry.

Wafer level hermetic bond using metal alloy with raised feature

An apparatus for bonding a lid wafer to a device wafer includes an elastic interface having a first surface and a second surface. Relieved areas may be created in the elastic interface by removing at least some of the elastic material of the interface, leaving a mesh with nodes. Raised areas may be disposed on the nodes in staggered positions on the first surface relative to the second surface. The bonding pressure deflects the raised features on the first surface in one direction and the raised features on the second surface in another direction. The restoring force of the mesh transmits the pressure through the interface and to a lid wafer and a device wafer, to bond the lid wafer to the device wafer.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Barbara, CA, United States of America

David M Erlach