Microactuator based on diamond

Details Microactuator based on diamond Microactuator based on diamond

2001-12-04

2003-01-14

Barlow, John (Department: 2853)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Ejector mechanism

C338S314000, C219S543000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06505914

ABSTRACT:

The invention relates to a microactuator having a resistance layer made from doped diamond, which is provided with an electrical supply and an electrical leakage.
Microactuators based on silicon have already been used for a long time even in commercial form. The thermopneumatic actuators integrated in ink-jet printing heads may be mentioned by way of example. In actuators of this type a liquid layer adjoining the microactuator is heated in the course of a few microseconds to over 300° C. with the aid of a metallic resistance layer which can be heated by electric current and evaporated explosively. The pressure produced during bubble expansion is used to accelerate an ink droplet onto the medium to be printed. The thermal actuator, and in particular the resistance layer, is exposed to severe loads due to the high temperatures thus occurring and high pressures (cavitation effects). In order to increase the service life of actuators of this type, the resistance layers are therefore often provided with several stabilising layers.
A microactuator on a diamond film having a resistance layer of boron-doped diamond is known from “Fabrication of micron scaled resistor's using a diamond-on-silicon heteroepitaxial structure”, R. Leuner et al., 6
th
European Heterostructure Technology Workshop, Lille, France, 15
th
-19
th
September 1996. The mechanical stabilising layers required in traditional actuators may be omitted without replacement in resistance layers made from diamond due to the high mechanical stability as well as the thermal and chemical resistance of diamond. However, it has been shown that in microactuators based on diamond a large part of the heat generated in the resistance layer diffuses into the diamond film arranged below the resistance layer due to the high thermal conductivity of diamond. This diffusion considerably impairs the efficiency of a diamond heating element.
To solve this problem it is proposed to thin the diamond substrate on the rear side in the region of the microactuator by reactive ion etching. However, such thinned substrates have extremely low mechanical stability, so that for example the explosive evaporation of a liquid would effect destruction of the microactuator. In addition, lateral heat diffusion still occurs even for a thinned diamond substrate.
Starting from this and further disadvantages of the state of the art, the object of the invention is to provide a microactuator based on diamond which has both high mechanical stability and high efficiency. In addition, the microactuator should be simple to manufacture as well as having many uses and in particular for overheating or evaporating fluid media, such as gases or liquids.
This object is achieved by a microactuator according to claim
1
. The sub-claims relate to advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention.
In a microactuator containing at least one resistance layer made from doped diamond or graphitic diamond (diamond-like carbon), which is arranged on a thermally insulating layer, diffusion of the heat generated in the resistance layer is clearly reduced and the efficiency of the microactuator thus considerably improved. In contrast to microactuators of the state of the art, the microactuator of the invention is neither in thermal contact with a large surface area diamond film nor with further heat sinks due to appropriate structuring. Lateral diffusion of the heat can be prevented by measures, such as mesa etching or selective growth. Thermal diffusion into the substrate is also excluded due to the vertical layer structure having a thermal insulation layer. The use of the insulation layer renders superfluous thinning of the substrate known from the state of the art, so that the microactuators of the invention may be arranged on mechanically stable, commercial substrates.
The insulating layer preferably has a thermal conductivity of below 1 W cm
−1
K
−1
at 300 K and may consist of materials, such as for example silicon oxides, silicon nitrides, silicon oxinitrides, and aluminum oxides. In order to guarantee adequate thermal insulation of the microactuator, the thickness of the insulating layer should be at least 0.25 &mgr;m and preferably lie in a range between 1 &mgr;m and 10 &mgr;m. The insulation layer particularly preferably consists of amorphous materials which have low thermal conductivities. The insulation layer preferably has none or only low electrical conductivity.
The doped resistance layer may be grown directly on the insulating layer. Alternatively, it is also conceivable to provide one or more intermediate layers between resistance layer and insulating layer. In order to avoid lateral heat diffusion, the at least one intermediate layer should either itself be a thermal insulator or be laterally structured.
The resistance layer of the microactuator preferably has a surface area of less than 1 mm
2
and particularly preferably of less than 100×100 &mgr;m
2
. Surprisingly, it has been shown that the combination of microactuator-inherent low surface area and insulation layer which is essential to the invention, permits surface area heating densities in the range of megawatts per cm
2
. Such high surface area heating densities are a precondition for a number of preferred applications of the microactuator of the invention. Hence, for example liquid layers adjoining the microactuator could be overheated to over 300° C. in the course of a few microseconds during dynamic operation. It could thus be proved that even microactuators based on diamond are suitable as thermopneumatic microactuators for ejecting fluid media.
The use of the thermopneumatic microactuator for emission of fluids by local overheating and explosive evaporation requires the presence of an emission structure arranged in the region of the resistance layer, and which advantageously has in each case at least one chamber and one nozzle as well as a channel for supplying the fluid medium.
A preferred embodiment of the invention envisages recording heat release from the microactuator of the invention by means of temperature sensors integrated monolithically with the microactuator in order to guarantee exact control of the microactuator. However, whereas a strong dependence of layer resistance on the temperature is desirable for a temperature sensor, when using the microactuator as a thermal microactuator the resistance layer should have a virtually temperature-independent resistance. The doping material concentration in the resistance layer should therefore be at least 10
19
cm
−3
. At lower doping material concentration and if a certain temperature dependence of heating behaviour is accepted, the microactuator itself may also act as a temperature sensor.


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“CVD Diamond Resistor as Heater and Temperature Sensor”, G.S. Yang and M. Aslam, Applications of Diamond Films and Related Materials:Third International Conference, 1995, pp. 125-128.

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