Method of making thermally-isolated silicon-based integrated circuits
| DWPI Title: Method of fabricating thermally isolated integrated circuit and resonator combination, involves using support bar maintaining physical contact between integrated circuit and silicon-based substrate to create suspended structure |
| Abstract: Thermally isolated devices may be formed by performing a series of etches on a silicon-based substrate. As a result of the series of etches, silicon material may be removed from underneath a region of an integrated circuit (IC). The removal of the silicon material from underneath the IC forms a gap between remaining substrate and the integrated circuit, though the integrated circuit remains connected to the substrate via a support bar arrangement that suspends the integrated circuit over the substrate. The creation of this gap functions to release the device from the substrate and create a thermally-isolated integrated circuit. |
| Use: Method of fabricating a thermally isolated integrated circuit and resonator combination. |
| Advantage: The thermally isolated integrated circuit comprises a resonator formed over an integrated circuit, and separated from circuit to provide thermal and mechanical isolation for the resonator. By combining thermal isolation with the temperature stability of an ovenized configuration, the integrated circuits are formed with orders of magnitude improvement in operational stability. An externally-applied voltage is applied across heater resistor, so that the temperature of integrated circuit is increased, while controlling the temperature of integrated circuit through the use of heater resistor, regardless of the ambient temperature of the complete structure. |
| Novelty: The method involves etching structure to remove exposed regions of interlevel dielectric layer and buried oxide insulating layer, and expose silicon-based substrate (12). Structure result from previous process is etched to remove any remainder of the silicon release layer to isolate resonator from silicon-based substrate. Portion of exposed silicon-based substrate is removed to release integrated circuit from silicon-based substrate, while using support bar maintaining physical contact between integrated circuit and silicon-based substrate to create suspended structure. |
| Filed: 8/11/2016 |
| Application Number: US15234932A |
| Tech ID: SD 12439.1 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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