Plasma techniques in the production of customized MEMS‐applications

Abstract

Micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) have found their way into many kinds of applications. Especially sensors are daily used by each of us in products like cars and smartphones. The focus of Hahn‐Schickard is the development and the production of highly specialized MEMS products, ones that especially enable small companies the access to MEMS technology. The portfolio includes specific inertial sensors like gyroscopes for navigation and safety, acceleration sensors for crash‐test dummies, microfluidic devices for biological, and medical applications, and so on. All of these devices are manufactured in the institute's cleanroom in volumes ranging from single devices up to hundreds of thousands of chips. In this article, the multitude of application scenarios will be demonstrated by way of diverse MEMS components.

Industrial plasma applications

“…The article by Kim et al, [ 5 ] too, describes microplasma‐based devices and systems currently being manufactured for applications in photolithography, photopatterning, and other nanofabrication processes such as atomic layer deposition (ALD). Finally, in PPaP 16(9), 2019, two review papers dealt with the topic of MEMS fabrication (micro electro mechanical systems), [ 10,11 ] now ubiquitous in many devices for daily use. An area of practical use for low‐temperature plasmas that is growing rapidly after emerging from modest beginnings is their application in health sciences [ 12 ] ; more generally, this now includes biology, agriculture, and the environment. [ 13 ] Of course, it is not illogical to include the special case of drinking water decontamination from microbiological pathological agents, already discussed in item (1) above.…”

“…The article by Kim et al, [ 5 ] too, describes microplasma‐based devices and systems currently being manufactured for applications in photolithography, photopatterning, and other nanofabrication processes such as atomic layer deposition (ALD). Finally, in PPaP 16(9), 2019, two review papers dealt with the topic of MEMS fabrication (micro electro mechanical systems), [ 10,11 ] now ubiquitous in many devices for daily use.…”

Special issue: Plasmas for microfabrication

“…All present leading‐edge research results on topics from the list above, or related ones. For example, two review papers by Laermer and Urban and Bittner et al deal with MEMS, two others, by Pranda et al and Marchack et al with lithography. The recently emerging fields of atomic layer deposition and etching are also well represented by Kim et al, Dallorto et al, and Leick et al, while packaging, interconnects and yield enhancement are addressed in a review by Miyajima et al, Park et al, Hirata et al, and Eriguchi et al Buschhaus and von Keudell describe the microstructure evolution of SiO 2 films deposited using different plasma sources; finally, Thomas et al present an update on the exciting topic of microscale plasma printing with nano inks, a subject first reviewed in this journal some years ago by the same group.…”