The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 04, 2000
Filed:
May. 15, 1998
Robert Y Loo, Agoura Hills, CA (US);
Adele Schmitz, Newbury, CA (US);
Julia Brown, Santa Monica, CA (US);
Jonathan Lynch, Oxnard, CA (US);
Debabani Choudhury, Woodland Hills, CA (US);
James Foschaar, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Daniel J Hyman, Cleveland Hts., OH (US);
Brett Warneke, Berkeley, CA (US);
Juan Lam, Agoura Hills, CA (US);
Tsung-Yuan Hsu, Westlake Village, CA (US);
Jae Lee, University Heights, OH (US);
Mehran Mehregany, Pepper Pike, OH (US);
Hughes Electronics Corporation, El Segundo, CA (US);
Rosemont Aerospace, Inc., Burnsville, MN (US);
Abstract
Methods for the design and fabrication of micro-electro-mechanical switches are disclosed. Two different switch designs with three different switch fabrication techniques are presented for a total of six switch structures. Each switch has a multiple-layer armature with a suspended biasing electrode and a conducting transmission line affixed to the structural layer of the armature. A conducting dimple is connected to the conducting line to provide a reliable region of contact for the switch. The switch is fabricated using silicon nitride as the armature structural layer and silicon dioxide as the sacrificial layer supporting the armature during fabrication. Hydrofluoric acid is used to remove the silicon dioxide layer with post-processing in a critical point dryer to increase yield.