Coatings for relatively movable surfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9487397-B2
Application number	US-201514844779-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2015
Priority date	Dec 18, 2012
Publication date	Nov 8, 2016
Grant date	Nov 8, 2016

Abstract

A device has a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) component with at least one surface and a coating disposed on at least a portion of the surface. The coating has a compound of the formula M(CnF2n+1Or), wherein M is a polar head group and wherein n≧2r. The value of n may range from 2 to about 20, and the value of r may range from 1 to about 10. The value of n plus r may range from 3 to about 30, and a ratio of n:r may have a value of about 2:1 to about 20:1.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device comprising:
forming a MEMS component having a surface; and
coating at least a portion of the surface with a compound of the formula M(C n F 2n+1 O r ), wherein M comprises a polar head group, and wherein n≧2r.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polar head group comprises a central atom having a coordination number of 3, 4, or 5.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the polar head group comprises an oxygen atom bound to the central atom.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the polar head group comprises a hydroxyl functional group bound to the central atom.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polar head group comprises at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of: a carboxylic acid functional group; a sulfonic acid functional group, a phosphonic acid functional group, an amide functional group, and a hydroxamide functional group.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein n has a value ranging from 2 to about 20.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein r has a value ranging from 1 to about 10.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein n+r ranges from 3 to about 30.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of n:r has a value of about 2:1 to about 20:1.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MEMS component comprises a digital micromirror device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MEMS component comprises at least one of an actuator, a motor, an RF switch, a sensor, a variable capacitor, an optical modulator, a microgear, an accelerometer, a transducer, a fluid nozzle, a gyroscope, or any combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compound is coated on the at least the portion of the surface as a self-assembling monolayer.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a polydispersity of the compound is less than about 2.0.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compound comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of: a perfluoropoly(alkylene) monoether carboxylic acid, a perfluoro(alkylene) monoether sulfonic acid, a perfluoro(alkylene) monoether phosphonic acid, a perfluoro(alkylene) monoether carboxamide, and a perfluoro(alkylene) monoether hydroxamide, a perfluoropoly(alkylene) polyether carboxylic acid, a perfluoro(alkylene)polyether sulfonic acid, a perfluoro(alkylene)polyether phosphonic acid, a perfluoro(alkylene)polyether carboxamide, and a perfluoro(alkylene)polyether hydroxamide.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compound comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of: perfluoro-3-oxadecanoic acid, perfluoro-2-oxaoctane-sulfonic acid, perfluoro-2-oxaoctane-phosphonic acid, N-hydroxy-perfluoro-2-oxaoctanamide, perfluoro-4-oxaheptanoic acid, perfluoro-4-oxaoctanoic acid, perfluoro-4-oxanonanoic acid, perfluoro-4-oxadecanoic acid, perfluoro-3-oxaundecanoic acid, perfluoro-3,6-dioxadodecanoic acid, perfluoro-3,6,9-trioxatridecanoic acid, and perfluoro-3,6,9,12-tetraoxatetrdecanoic acid.

Assignees

• Texas Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Morrison William Robert
• Fisher Mark Christopher
• Hanabe Murali
• Sivakumar Ganapathy Subramaniam
• Jacobs Simon Joshua

Classifications

• H10P14/68

  Organic materials, e.g. photoresists · CPC title

• B81B7/0032

  Packages or encapsulation (processes for packaging MEMS B81C1/00261; packaging of smart-MEMS B81C1/0023) · CPC title

• Y02B60/50

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• B81B3/0005 Primary

  Anti-stiction coatings · CPC title

• B81C1/0096

  For avoiding stiction when the device is in use, i.e. after manufacture has been completed · CPC title