Sandia Corporation

California Institute of Technology

James G Fleming

Shawn-Yu Lin

Carol Fleming, Legal Representative

Jeffry Joseph Sniegowski

Roy H Olsson

James M Gee

Ihab Fathy El-Kady

James B Moreno

Stephen Montague

Frederick McCormick

Roland Madar

Claude Bernard

Paul M Smith

Bradley K Smith

Ronald V Jones

Jonathan S Custer

Elizabeth Lynn Roherty-Osmun

Marc-A Nicolet

Vincent Mark Hietala

Harold L Stalford

Matthew G Blain

G Ronald Hadley

Seethambal S Mani

Dale L Hetherington

Carole C Barron

Robert S Blewer

Melanie R Tuck

Brian W Dodson

James A Bur

A cutting blade is disclosed fabricated of micromachined silicon. The cutting blade utilizes a monocrystalline silicon substrate having a {211} crystalline orientation to form one or more cutting edges that are defined by the intersection of {211} crystalline planes of silicon with {111} crystalline planes of silicon. This results in a cutting blade which has a shallow cutting-edge angle &#x3b8; of 19.5&#xb0;. The micromachined cutting blade can be formed using an anisotropic wet etching process which substantially terminates etching upon reaching the {111} crystalline planes of silicon. This allows multiple blades to be batch fabricated on a common substrate and separated for packaging and use. The micromachined cutting blade, which can be mounted to a handle in tension and optionally coated for increased wear resistance and biocompatibility, has multiple applications including eye surgery (LASIK procedure).

Micromachined cutting blade formed from {211}-oriented silicon

A microfabricated bulk wave acoustic bandgap device comprises a periodic two-dimensional array of scatterers embedded within the matrix material membrane, wherein the scatterer material has a density and/or elastic constant that is different than the matrix material and wherein the periodicity of the array causes destructive interference of the acoustic wave within an acoustic bandgap. The membrane can be suspended above a substrate by an air or vacuum gap to provide acoustic isolation from the substrate. The device can be fabricated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technologies. Such microfabricated bulk wave phononic bandgap devices are useful for acoustic isolation in the ultrasonic, VHF, or UHF regime (i.e., frequencies of order 1 MHz to 10 GHz and higher, and lattice constants of order 100 &#x3bc;m or less).

Microfabricated bulk wave acoustic bandgap device

A microelectromechanical tunable inductor is formed from a pair of substantially-identically-sized coils arranged side by side and coiled up about a central axis which is parallel to a supporting substrate. An in-plane stress gradient is responsible for coiling up the coils which. The inductance provided by the tunable inductor can be electrostatically changed either continuously or in discrete steps using electrodes on the substrate and on each coil. The tunable inductor can be formed with processes which are compatible with conventional IC fabrication so that, in some cases, the tunable inductor can be formed on a semiconductor substrate alongside or on top of an IC.

Microelectromechanical tunable inductor

A microelectromechanical (MEM) resonator is disclosed which has a linear or ring-shaped acoustic resonator suspended above a substrate by an acoustic reflector. The acoustic resonator can be formed with a piezoelectric material (e.g. aluminum nitride, zinc oxide or PZT), or using an electrostatically-actuated material. The acoustic reflector (also termed an acoustic mirror) uses alternating sections of a relatively low acoustic impedance Zmaterial and a relatively high acoustic impedance Zmaterial to isolate the acoustic resonator from the substrate. The MEM resonator, which can be formed on a silicon substrate with conventional CMOS circuitry, has applications for forming oscillators, rf filters, and acoustic sensors.

Contour mode resonators with acoustic reflectors

A microelectromechanical (MEM) apparatus is disclosed which includes a shuttle suspended above a substrate by two or more sets of tensile-stressed beams which are operatively connected to the shuttle and which can comprise tungsten or a silicon nitride/polysilicon composite structure. Initially, the tensile stress in each set of beams is balanced. However, the tensile stress can be unbalanced by heating one or more of the sets of beams; and this can be used to move the shuttle over a distance of up to several tens of microns. The MEM apparatus can be used to form a MEM relay having relatively high contact and opening forces, and with or without a latching capability.

Tensile-stressed microelectromechanical apparatus and microelectromechanical relay formed therefrom

A microelectromechanical (MEM) apparatus is disclosed which includes a pair of tensile-stressed actuators suspending a platform above a substrate to tilt the platform relative to the substrate. A tensile stress built into the actuators initially tilts the platform when a sacrificial material used in fabrication of the MEM apparatus is removed. Further tilting of the platform can occur with a change in the ambient temperature about the MEM apparatus, or by applying a voltage to one or both of the tensile-stressed actuators. The MEM apparatus can be used to form a tiltable micromirror or an array of such devices, and also has applications for thermal management within satellites.

Tensile-stressed microelectromechanical apparatus and tiltable micromirrors formed therefrom

A microfabricated ion trap array, comprising a plurality of ion traps having an inner radius of order one micron, can be fabricated using surface micromachining techniques and materials known to the integrated circuits manufacturing and microelectromechanical systems industries. Micromachining methods enable batch fabrication, reduced manufacturing costs, dimensional and positional precision, and monolithic integration of massive arrays of ion traps with microscale ion generation and detection devices. Massive arraying enables the microscale ion traps to retain the resolution, sensitivity, and mass range advantages necessary for high chemical selectivity. The reduced electrode voltage enables integration of the microfabricated ion trap array with on-chip circuit-based rf operation and detection electronics (i.e., cell phone electronics). Therefore, the full performance advantages of the microfabricated ion trap array can be realized in truly field portable, handheld microanalysis systems.

Microfabricated ion trap array

An optical amplifier having a uniform gain profile uses a photonic crystal to tune the density-of-states of a gain medium so as to modify the light emission rate between atomic states. The density-of-states of the gain medium is tuned by selecting the size, shape, dielectric constant, and spacing of a plurality of microcavity defects in the photonic crystal. The optical amplifier is particularly useful for the regeneration of DWDM signals in long optical fibers.

Use of a photonic crystal for optical amplifier gain control

A microelectromechanical (MEM) apparatus is disclosed which includes one or more tensile-stressed actuators that are coupled through flexures to a stage on a substrate. The tensile-stressed actuators, which can be formed from tensile-stressed tungsten or silicon nitride, initially raise the stage above the substrate without any applied electrical voltage, and can then be used to control the height or tilt angle of the stage. An electrostatic actuator can also be used in combination with each tensile-stressed actuator. The MEM apparatus has applications for forming piston micromirrors or tiltable micromirrors and independently addressable arrays of such devices.

Tensile-stressed microelectromechanical apparatus and micromirrors formed therefrom

A photonically engineered incandescence is disclosed. The emitter materials and photonic crystal structure can be chosen to modify or suppress thermal radiation above a cutoff wavelength, causing the emitter to selectively emit in the visible and near-infrared portions of the spectrum. An efficient incandescent lamp is enabled thereby. A method for fabricating a three-dimensional photonic crystal of a structural material, suitable for the incandescent emitter, is also disclosed.

Method for fabricating a photonic crystal

A new class of processes suited to the fabrication of layered material compositions is disclosed. Layered material compositions are typically three-dimensional structures which can be decomposed into a stack of structured layers. The best known examples are the photonic lattices. The present invention combines the characteristic features of photolithography and chemical-mechanical polishing to permit the direct and facile fabrication of, e.g., photonic lattices having photonic bandgaps in the 0.1-20&mgr; spectral range.

Method to fabricate layered material compositions

A microfabricated Bragg waveguide of semiconductor-compatible material having a hollow core and a multilayer dielectric cladding can be fabricated by integrated circuit technologies. The microfabricated Bragg waveguide can comprise a hollow channel waveguide or a hollow fiber. The Bragg fiber can be fabricated by coating a sacrificial mandrel or mold with alternating layers of high- and low-refractive-index dielectric materials and then removing the mandrel or mold to leave a hollow tube with a multilayer dielectric cladding. The Bragg channel waveguide can be fabricated by forming a trench embedded in a substrate and coating the inner wall of the trench with a multilayer dielectric cladding. The thicknesses of the alternating layers can be selected to satisfy the condition for minimum radiation loss of the guided wave.

Microfabricated bragg waveguide

A light source is provided by a photonic crystal having an enhanced photonic density-of-states over a band of frequencies and wherein at least one of the dielectric materials of the photonic crystal has a complex dielectric constant, thereby producing enhanced light emission at the band of frequencies when the photonic crystal is heated. The dielectric material can be a metal, such as tungsten. The spectral properties of the light source can be easily tuned by modification of the photonic crystal structure and materials. The photonic crystal light source can be heated electrically or other heating means. The light source can further include additional photonic crystals that exhibit enhanced light emission at a different band of frequencies to provide for color mixing. The photonic crystal light source may have applications in optical telecommunications, information displays, energy conversion, sensors, and other optical applications.

Photonic crystal light source

A cutting blade is disclosed fabricated of micromachined silicon. The cutting blade utilizes a monocrystalline silicon substrate having a &lcub;211&rcub; crystalline orientation to form one or more cutting edges that are defined by the intersection of &lcub;211&rcub; crystalline planes of silicon with &lcub;111&rcub; crystalline planes of silicon. This results in a cutting blade which has a shallow cutting-edge angle &thgr; of 19.5&deg;. The micromachined cutting blade can be formed using an anisotropic wet etching process which substantially terminates etching upon reaching the &lcub;111&rcub; crystalline planes of silicon. This allows multiple blades to be batch fabricated on a common substrate and separated for packaging and use. The micromachined cutting blade, which can be mounted to a handle in tension and optionally coated for increased wear resistance and biocompatibility, has multiple applications including eye surgery (LASIK procedure).

Growing community of inventors

Albuquerque, NM, United States of America

James G Fleming