Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sandia Builds Micromechanical 'Device Driver'

Posted by michael on from the working-on-the-chain-gang dept.

DanielRavenNest writes: "Sandia Labs has built a tiny bicycle chain type drive out of silicon. This allows one micromechanical motor to drive multiple devices scattered about a chip."

2 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Article on MEMS research by Stone+Rhino · · Score: 4, Informative

    here (free regblah.)
    AND for cut and pasters: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/10/technology/circu its/10NEXT.html

    --


    Remember, there were no nuclear weapons before women were allowed to vote.
  2. Re:How are these made? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is actualy quite easy, the gears that you see in the pictures are made out of poly silicon. So what you do it grow a thick (several micron) sacrificial oxide, pattern the oxide using standard lithography. Etch out the pattern of the gears, creating essentaly a mold of the gear. Then you backfill the area with poly silicon. You then preform a oxide etch with a HF acid solution and remove the oxide, leaving just the poly silicon gears. You grow the oxide, etch, fill, and repeat. This process is done several times to created diffrent levels. So as an example, the bottom of the chain would be layer 1. The Drive gear and the vertical post that connect the top and bottom of the chain are layer 2. Then the top of the chain is layer 3.