United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

Elissa Williams

Kevin L Denis

Edward J Wollack

Karwan Rostem

Hsiang-Yu Liu

A structured membrane fabrication method begins with a membrane wafer on a substrate and at least one thin-film on the membrane wafer such that portions of the membrane wafer are exposed. The exposed portions of the membrane wafer and each thin-film are covered with an acetone-inert protectant. Portions of the protectant are etched through to the membrane wafer while each thin-film remains fully covered by the protectant. A handle is coupled to the protectant with a wax that dissolves in acetone. Portions of the substrate are then removed to define and expose a contiguous region of the membrane wafer adjacent to each thin-film and the portions of the protectant so-etched. The wax is exposed to acetone so that it dissolves. The contiguous region of the membrane wafer is then etched through at the portions of the protectant so-etched. The protectant is then removed.

Method of fabricating structured membranes

The present invention relates to a plurality of phononic devices and a method of manufacturing thereof. In one embodiment, highly sensitive superconducting cryogenic detectors integrate phononic crystals into their architecture. The phononic structures are designed to reduce the loss of athermal phonons, resulting in lower noise and higher sensitivity detectors. This fabrication process increases the qp generation recombination rate, thus, reducing the noise equivalent power (NEP) without sacrificing the scalability. A plurality of phononic devices, such as a kinetic inductance detector (KID), a transition edge sensor (TES) bolometer, and quarterwave backshort, can be manufactured according to the methods of the present invention.

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Lanham, MD, United States of America

Elissa Williams