To date, photonic biosensing with porous membranes has produced slow responses and long sensing times, due to the narrow (less than 100 nm) closed end pores of the membranes used. Recently, polarimetry was used to demonstrate analyte flow through, and real time biosensing in, free-standing porous alumina membranes. Here, we demonstrate how an improved functionalization technology, has for the first time enabled a real-time immunoassay within a porous membrane with a total assay time below one hour. With the new approach, we show a noise floor for individual biosensing measurements of 3.7 ng/ml (25 pM), and a bulk refractive index detection limit of 5×10^-6 RIU, with a standard deviation of less than 5%. The membranes, with their 200 nm pore diameter enabling targeted delivering of analytes to bioreceptors immobilized on the pore walls, therefore provide a route towards rapid and low cost real-time opto-fluidic biosensors for small sample volumes.

A new technique for measuring the number of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and their concentration in a carbon nanotube layer is developed in this work. It is based on the G peak intensity of the Raman spectrum, together with precise mass and optical absorbance measurements. The dependence of the number of the carbon nanotubes on the phonon scattering intensity is observed. This method opens an opportunity for the quantitative mapping of sp2 carbon atom distribution in the SWCNT layers with a resolution limited by the focused laser spot size.

This thesis treats the development of packaging and integration methods for the cost-efficient encapsulation and packaging of microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices. The packaging of MEMS devices is often more costly than the device itself, partly because the packaging can be crucial for the performance of the device. For devices which contain liquids or needs to be enclosed in a vacuum, the packaging can account for up to 80% of the total cost of the device.

The first part of this thesis presents the integration scheme for an optical dye thin film NO₂-gas sensor, designed using cost-efficient implementations of wafer-scale methods. This work includes design and fabrication of photonic subcomponents in addition to the main effort of integration and packaging of the dye-film. A specific proof of concept target was for NO₂ monitoring in a car tunnel.

The second part of this thesis deals with the wafer-scale packaging methods developed for the sensing device. The developed packaging method, based on low-temperature plastic deformation of gold sealing structures, is further demonstrated as a generic method for other hermetic liquid and vacuum packaging applications. In the developed packaging methods, the mechanically squeezed gold sealing material is both electroplated microstruc- tures and wire bonded stud bumps. The electroplated rings act like a more hermetic version of rubber sealing rings while compressed in conjunction with a cavity forming wafer bonding process. The stud bump sealing processes is on the other hand applied on completed cavities with narrow access ports, to seal either a vacuum or liquid inside the cavities at room temperature. Additionally, the resulting hermeticity of primarily the vacuum sealing methods is thoroughly investigated.

Two of the sealing methods presented require permanent mechanical fixation in order to complete the packaging process. Two solutions to this problem are presented in this thesis. First, a more traditional wafer bonding method using tin-soldering is demonstrated. Second, a novel full-wafer epoxy underfill-process using a microfluidic distribution network is demonstrated using a room temperature process.

This paper reports on the investigation of a novel room-temperature vacuum sealing method based on compressing wire bonded gold bumps which are placed to partially overlap the access ports into the cavity. The bump compression, which is done under vacuum, causes a material flow into the access ports, thereby hermetically sealing a vacuum inside the cavities. The sealed cavity pressure was measured by residual gas analysis to 8x10(-4) mbar two weeks after sealing. The residual gas content was found to be mainly argon, which indicates the source as outgassing inside the cavity and no measurable external leak. The seals are found to be mechanically robust and easily implemented by the use of standard commercial tools and processes.

We report on dye-based photonic sensing systems which are fabricated and packaged at wafer scale. For the first time luminescent organic nanocomposite thin-films deposited by plasma technology are integrated in photonic sensing systems as active sensing elements. The realized dye-based photonic sensors include an environmental NO2 sensor and a sunlight ultraviolet light (UV) A+B sensor. The luminescent signal from the nanocomposite thin-films responds to changes in the environment and is selectively filtered by a photonic structure consisting of a Fabry-Perot cavity. The sensors are fabricated and packaged at wafer-scale, which makes the technology viable for volume manufacturing. Prototype photonic sensor systems have been tested in real-world scenarios. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High-temperature-resistant inertial sensors are increasingly requested in a variety of fields such as aerospace, automotive and energy. Capacitive detection is especially suitable for sensing at high temperatures due to its low intrinsic temperature dependence. In this paper, we present high-temperature measurements utilizing a capacitive accelerometer, thereby proving the feasibility of capacitive detection at temperatures of up to 400 degrees C. We describe the observed characteristics as the temperature is increased and propose an explanation of the physical mechanisms causing the temperature dependence of the sensor, which mainly involve the temperature dependence of the Young's modulus and of the viscosity and the pressure of the gas inside the sensor cavity. Therefore a static electromechanical model and a dynamic model that takes into account squeeze film damping were developed.

Through silicon vias (TSVs) are key enablers of 3-D integration technologies which, by vertically stacking andinterconnecting multiple chips, achieve higher performances,lower power, and a smaller footprint. Copper is the mostcommonly used conductor to fill TSVs; however, copper hasa high thermal expansion mismatch in relation to the siliconsubstrate. This mismatch results in a large accumulation ofthermomechanical stress when TSVs are exposed to high temperaturesand/or temperature cycles, potentially resulting in devicefailure. In this paper, we demonstrate 300 μm long, 7:1 aspectratio TSVs with Invar as a conductive material. The entireTSV structure can withstand at least 100 thermal cycles from −50 °C to 190 °C and at least 1 h at 365 °C, limited bythe experimental setup. This is possible thanks to matchingcoefficients of thermal expansion of the Invar via conductor andof silicon substrate. This results in thermomechanical stressesthat are one order of magnitude smaller compared to copperTSV structures with identical geometries, according to finiteelement modeling. Our TSV structures are thus a promisingapproach enabling 2.5-D and 3-D integration platforms for hightemperatureand harsh-environment applications.

Nanoelectromechanical (NEM) switches have the potential to complement or replace traditional CMOS transistors in the area of ultra-low-power digital electronics. This paper reports the demonstration of prototype circuits including the first 3-stage ring oscillator built using cell-level digital logic elements based on curved NEM switches. The ring oscillator core occupies an area of 30 mu m x 10 mu m using 6 NEM switches. Each NEM switch device has a footprint of 5 mu m x 3 mu m, an air gap of 60 mu m and is coated with amorphous carbon (a-C) for reliable operation. The ring oscillator operates at a frequency of 6.7 MHz, and confirms the simulated inverter propagation delay of 25 ns. The successful fabrication and measurement of this demonstrator are key milestones on the way towards an optimized, scaled technology with sub-nanosecond switching times, lower operating voltages and VLSI implementation.

We design, fabricate and characterize sidewall corrugated Bragg gratings in a high confinement integrated optics lithium niobate platform, comprising submicrometric photonic wires, tapers and grating couplers to interface off-chip standard telecom optical fibers. We analyze the grating performance as band-rejection filter for TE-polarized signals in the telecom C-band, considering both rectangular and sinusoidal sidewall profiles, and demonstrate record extinction ratios as high as 27 dB and rejection bandwidths as narrow as 3 nm. The results show the potential for an efficient integration of novel photonic functionalities into low-footprint LiNbO3 nonlinear and electro-optical waveguide devices.

This thesis presents two families of novel waveguide-integrated components based on millimeter-wave microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for reconfigurable systems. The first group comprises V-band (50–75 GHz) and W-band (75–110 GHz) waveguide switches and switchable irises, and their application as switchable cavity resonators, and tunable bandpass filters implemented by integration of novel MEMS-reconfigurable surfaces into a rectangular waveguide. The second category comprises MEMS-based reconfigurable finlines integrated as phase shifters into a rectangular waveguide array to demonstrate beams steering with a phased array antenna.

The first group of the presented reconfigurable waveguide components is based on a novel MEMS-reconfigurable surface structured in the device layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer using metallized mono-crystalline silicon as structural and functional material. The chip containing the reconfigurable surface is integrated in the cross-section of a WR-12 rectangular waveguide perpendicular to the wave propagation. The reconfigurable surface is modified for different states by on-chip push-pull electrostatic comb-drive MEMS actuators. The switch is ON when the reconfigurable surface is in its transmissive state and OFF when the reconfigurable surface is in its blocking state for the propagating wave. This millimeter-wave waveguide switch shows an insertion loss and isolation very similar to high-performance but bulky mechanical rotary waveguide switches, despite being extremely compact (30 μm thick), and thus combines the high electrical performance of mechanical switches with the size of (high power consuming and inferior performance) PIN-diode waveguide switches. This thesis also investigates the optimization to decrease the number of contact points for the OFF state and presents a device yield analysis. The same concept is developed further to MEMS-switchable inductive and capacitive irises, with the performance similar to ideal irises. With such MEMS-reconfigurable irises a switchable cavity resonator was implemented and the potential of tunable bandpass filters are demonstrated. Since these devices feature all-metal design as no dielectric layers are utilized, no dielectric charging effect is observed. Furthermore, this thesis investigates the low-loss integration of millimeter-wave MEMS-reconfigurable devices into rectangular waveguide with conductive polymer interposers.

The second group of components comprises finlines which are fabricated out of two bonded silicon wafers with bilateral gold structures integrated into a WR-12 rectangular waveguide. A 2-bit waveguide phase shifter is designed for 77-GHz automotive radar. Such phase shifters are used as individual building blocks of a two-dimensional antenna array for beam steering frontends.

This paper presents for the first time a novel MEMS-reconfigurable inductive iris based on a 30-μm thick reconfigurable transmissive surface and reports on its application to create a switchable cavity resonator in a WR-12 rectangular waveguide (60-90 GHz). The reconfigurable surface incorporates 252 simultaneously switched contact points for activating (ON state) and deactivating (OFF state) the inductive iris by a 24 μm lateral displacement of two sets of distributed vertical cantilevers. In the ON state, these contact points are short-circuiting the electric field lines of the TE₁₀ waveguide mode on the cross-sectional areas of a symmetric inductive waveguide iris, and are not interfering with the wave propagation in the OFF state. Thus, this novel concept allows for completely switching the inductive iris ON or OFF. The inductive iris has an insertion loss of better than 1.0 dB in the OFF state, of which 0.8 dB is attributed to the measurement setup alone. In the ON state the measured performance of the switchable iris is in good agreement with the simulation results. Furthermore, a novel, switchable cavity resonator was implemented based on such a MEMS-reconfigurable iris, and was characterized to a Q-factor of 186.13 at the resonance frequency of 68.87 GHz with the iris switched ON, and an OFF-state insertion loss of less than 2 dB (including the measurement setup) without any resonance, which is for the first time reported in this paper.

This paper presents a novel concept of a millimeter-wave waveguide switch based on amicroelectromechanical (MEMS)-reconfigurable surface with insertion loss and isolation very similar to high performance but bulky rotary waveguide switches, despite its thickness of only 30 mu m. A set of up to 1470 micromachined cantilevers arranged in vertical columns are actuated laterally by on-chip integrated MEMS comb-drive actuators, to switch between the transmissive state and the blocking state. In the blocking state, the surface is reconfigured so that the wave propagation is blocked by the cantilever columns short-circuiting the electrical field lines of the TE10 mode. A design study has been carried out identifying the performance impact of different design parameters. The RF measurements (60-70 GHz) of fabricated, fully functional prototype chips show that the devices have an isolation between 30 and 40 dB in the OFF state and an insertion loss between 0.4 and 1.1 dB in the ON state, of which the waveguide-assembly setup alone contributes 0.3 dB. A device-level yield analysis was carried out, both by simulations and by creating artificial defects in the fabricated devices, revealing that a cantilever yield of 95% is sufficient for close-to-best performance. The actuation voltage of the active-opening/active-closing actuators is 40-44 V, depending on design, with high reproducibility of better than (sigma = 0.0605 V). Lifetime measurements of the all-metal, monocrystalline-silicon core devices were carried out for 14 h, after which 4.3 million cycles were achieved without any indication of degradation. Furthermore, a MEMS-switchable waveguide iris based on the reconfigurable surface is presented.

This paper presents a concept of a waveguide single-pole single-throw (SPST) switch based on a MEMS-reconfigurable surface. A set of vertical columns, split into two groups of movable and fixed sections which can be actuated laterally by integrated MEMS comb-drive actuators, allows for the transition between the transmissive and the blocking state. In the totally-blocking state, the vertical columns inhibit the wave propagation by short-circuiting the electrical field lines of the predominantTE10 mode. The paper reports on the integration method for fabricated chips into a WR-12 waveguide by using tailor-made flanges. The RF measurement of fabricated chips show that devices have better than 30 dB isolation in the OFF state and better than 0.65 dB insertion loss in the ON state for60-70 GHz, which is mainly attributed to the integration into the waveguide and the measurement assembly setup. The actuation voltage is 44 V, and lifetime measurements were carried out for 14 hours after which 4.3 million cycles were achieved without any indication on degradation.

This paper presents a concept of a waveguide single-pole single-throw (SPST) switch based on a MEMSreconfigurable surface. A set of vertical columns, split into two groups of movable and fixed sections which can be actuated laterally by integrated MEMS comb-drive actuators, allows for the transition between the transmissive and the blocking state. In the totally-blocking state, the vertical columns inhibit the wave propagation by short-circuiting the electrical field lines of the predominant TE10 mode. The paper reports on the integration method for fabricated chips into a WR-12 waveguide by using tailor-made flanges. The RF measurement of fabricated chips show that devices have better than 30 dB isolation in the OFF state and better than 0.65 dB insertion loss in the ON state for 60-70 GHz, which is mainly attributed to the integration into the waveguide and the measurement assembly setup. The actuation voltage is 44 V, and life-time measurements were carried out for 14 hours after which 4.3 million cycles were achieved without any indication on degradation.

This paper presents for the first time a novel concept of a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) waveguide switch based on a reconfigurable surface, whose working principle is to block the wave propagation by short-circuiting the electrical field lines of the TE10 mode of a WR-12 rectangular waveguide. The reconfigurable surface is only 30 mu m thick and consists of up to 1260 micro-machined cantilevers and 660 contact points in the waveguide cross-section, which are moved simultaneously by integrated MEMS comb-drive actuators. Measurements of fabricated prototypes show that the devices are blocking wave propagation in the OFF-state with over 30 dB isolation for all designs, and allow for transmission of less than 0.65 dB insertion loss for the best design in the ON-state for 60-70 GHz. Furthermore, the paper investigates the integration of such microchips into WR-12 waveguides, which is facilitated by tailor-made waveguide flanges and compliant, conductive-polymer interposer sheets. It is demonstrated by reference measurements where the measured insertion loss of the switches is mainly attributed to the chip-to-waveguide assembly. For the first prototypes of this novel MEMS microwave device concept, the comb-drive actuators did not function properly due to poor fabrication yield. Therefore, for measuring the OFF-state, the devices were fixated mechanically.

This paper investigates a novel method of integrating microwave microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) chips into millimeter-wave rectangular waveguides. The fundamental difficulties of merging micromachined with macromachined microwave components, in particular, surface topography, roughness, mechanical stress points and air gaps interrupting the surface currents, are overcome by a double-side adhesive conductive polymer interposer. This interposer provides a uniform electrical contact, stable mechanical connection and a compliant stress distribution interlayer between the MEMS chip and a waveguide frame. The integration method is successfully implemented both for prototype devices of MEMS-tuneable reflective metamaterial surfaces and for MEMS reconfigurable transmissive surfaces. The measured insertion loss of the novel conductive polymer interface is less than 0.4 dB in the E-band (60-90 GHz), as compared to a conventional assembly with an air gap of 2.5 dB loss. Moreover, both dc biasing lines and mechanical feedthroughs to actuators outside the waveguide are demonstrated in this paper, which is achieved by structuring the polymer sheet xurographically. Finite element method simulations were carried out for analyzing the influence of different parameters on the radio frequency performance.

This study investigates a new concept of waveguide-based W-band phase shifters for applications in phased array antennas. The phase shifters are based on a tuneable bilateral finline bandpass filter with 22 microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switching elements, integrated into a custom-made WR-12 waveguide with a replaceable section, whose performance is also investigated in this study. The individual phase states are selected by changing the configuration of the switches bridging the finline slot in specific positions; this leads to four discrete phase states with an insertion loss predicted by simulations better than 1 dB, and a phase shift span of about 270°. MEMS chips have been fabricated in fixed positions, on a pair of bonded 300 µm high-resistivity silicon substrates, to prove the principle, that is, they are not fully functional, but contain all actuation and biasing-line elements. The measured phase states are 0, 56, 189 and 256°, resulting in an effective bit resolution of 1.78 bits of this nominal 2 bit phase shifter at 77 GHz. The measured insertion loss was significantly higher than the simulated value, which is assumed to be attributed to narrow-band design of the devices as the influences of fabrication and assembly tolerances are shown to be negligible from the measurement results.

This paper presents a concept and prototypes of transmissive millimeter-wave surfaces, which are reconfigurable by integrated micro-electromechanical (MEMS) actuators. The surfaces consist of small vertical elements which can be configured so that they are vertically connected and thus they short-circuit the electrical field lines in the waveguide, which results in total blocking of the wave propagation, or that they are not connected which results in full wave propagation through the surface.

This paper presents a self-consistent model of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) laminar plumes produced by electron injection from ultra-sharp needle tips in cyclohexane. Since the density of electrons injected into the liquid is well described by the Fowler-Nordheim field emission theory, the injection law is not assumed. Furthermore, the generation of electrons in cyclohexane and their conversion into negative ions is included in the analysis. Detailed steady-state characteristics of EHD plumes under weak injection and space-charge limited injection are studied. It is found that the plume characteristics far from both electrodes and under weak injection can be accurately described with an asymptotic simplified solution proposed by Vazquez et al. ["Dynamics of electrohydrodynamic laminar plumes: Scaling analysis and integral model," Phys. Fluids 12, 2809 (2000)] when the correct longitudinal electric field distribution and liquid velocity radial profile are used as input. However, this asymptotic solution deviates from the self-consistently calculated plume parameters under space-charge limited injection since it neglects the radial variations of the electric field produced by a high-density charged core. In addition, no significant differences in the model estimates of the plume are found when the simulations are obtained either with the finite element method or with a diffusion-free particle method. It is shown that the model also enables the calculation of the current-voltage characteristic of EHD laminar plumes produced by electron field emission, with good agreement with measured values reported in the literature.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections and pose a significant healthcare burden. The growing trend in antibiotic resistance makes it mandatory to develop diagnostic kits which allow not only the determination of a pathogen but also the antibiotic resistances. We have developed a microfluidic cartridge which takes a direct urine sample, extracts the DNA, performs an amplification using batch-PCR and flows the sample over a microarray which is printed into a microchannel for fluorescence detection. The cartridge is injection-molded out of COP and contains a set of two-component injection-molded rotary valves to switch between input and to isolate the PCR chamber during thermocycling. The hybridization probes were spotted directly onto a functionalized section of the outlet microchannel. We have been able to successfully perform PCR of E. coli in urine in this chip and perform a fluorescence detection of PCR products. An upgraded design of the cartridge contains the buffers and reagents in blisters stored on the chip.

In this paper, we describe the ideas behind a second-year Design-Build course in Electrical Engineering. Electrical Engineering is a theoretical subject, and in such it is difficult to maintain the theoretical level in project courses introduced too early in the program, especially when core subjects like electromagnetic field theory are involved. This issue is addressed and we also describe our approach for the assessment of the students. We also discuss the different goals that were set up prior to the course from a program perspective; how we reasoned when designing the course, the assessment structure, and the output once the course was implemented

This letter reports for the first time on a very low loss silicon micromachined waveguide technology, implemented for the frequency band of 220–325 GHz. The waveguide is realized by utilizing a double H-plane split in a three-wafer stack. This ensures very low surface roughness, in particular on the top and bottom surfaces of the waveguide, without the use of any surface roughness reduction processing steps. This is superior to previous micromachined waveguide concepts, including E-plane and single H-plane split waveguides. The measured average surface roughness is 2.14 nm for the top/bottom of the waveguide, and 163.13 nm for the waveguide sidewalls. The measured insertion loss per unit length is 0.02–0.07 dB/mm for 220–325 GHz, with a gold layer thickness of 1 μm on the top/bottom and 0.3 μm on the sidewalls. This represents, in this frequency band, the lowest loss for any silicon micromachined waveguide published to date and is of the same order as the best metal waveguides.

This paper presents the characterization of integrated micromachined waveguide absorbers in the frequency band of 220 to 325 GHz. Tapered absorber wedges were cut out of four different commercially available semi-rigid absorber ma terials and inserted in a backshorted micromachined waveguide cavity for characterization. The absorption properties of these materials are only specified at 10 GHz, and their absorption behavior above 100 GHz was so far unknown. To study the effect of the geometry of the absorber wedges, the return loss of different absorber lengths and tapering angles was investigated. The results show that longer and sharper sloped wedges from the material specified with the lowest dielectric constant, but not the highest specified absorption, are superior over other geometries and absorber materials. The best results were achieved for 5 mm long absorbers with a tapering angle of 23° in the material RS-4200 from the supplier Resin Systems, having a return loss of better than 13 dB over the whole frequency range of 220 to 325 GHz. These absorber wedges are intended to be used as matched loads in micromachined waveguide circuits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first publication characterizing such micromachined waveguide absorbers.

The high level of complexity in today’s electronic systems increases the demands on an advanced validation and verification process. Automated testing facilitates and improves regression testing (rerun of previously executed test cases to uncover and track new bugs) with increased coverage and reduced costs as a result. 

A vehicle contains multiple control units, each responsible for a specific part: the engine, brakes, gearbox etc. These intelligent systems must be tested thoroughly to ensure correct behavior - both under normal circumstances and when the vehicle is exposed to unexpected events such as electrical failure (short circuit, broken cables etc.). A breakout box, BOB, is a piece of testing equipment that can be used to induce electrical faults on the wiring of the control units. It is typically operated manually. The objective of this project is to develop an automated version, an ABOB. 

A prototype that could induce various faults on arbitrary cables of a control unit was developed. The faults were: short circuit to a variable voltage source with connected or disconnected load, replacement of real signals with simulated ones and open load. The breakout box also performed internal measurements and supplied the user with feedback information about whether or not the test case was successfully executed. Several generations of the system were developed, where the final product had hardware support for up to six connected ECU ports and the possibility to distribute control signals to 256 different ECU ports via a computer based application and a set of communicating microprocessors. 

This thesis project focuses on the software design of the ABOB. For further explanation of the hardware, the reader is advised to consult the report Hardware Synthesis of Automated Electrical Fault Testing in Trucks by Martin Orre.

Three-dimensional (3D) integration of micro- and nano-electromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) with integrated circuits (ICs) is an emerging technology that offers great advantages over conventional state-of-the-art microelectronics. MEMS and NEMS are most commonly employed as sensor and actuator components that enable a vast array of functionalities typically not attainable by conventional ICs. 3D integration of NEMS and ICs also contributes to more compact device footprints, improves device performance, and lowers the power consumption. Therefore, 3D integration of NEMS and ICs has been proposed as a promising solution to the end of Moore’s law, i.e. the slowing advancement of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology.In this Ph.D. thesis, I propose a comprehensive fabrication methodology for heterogeneous 3D integration of NEM devices directly on top of CMOS circuits. In heterogeneous integration, the NEMS and CMOS components are fully or partially fabricated on separate substrates and subsequently merged into one. This enables process flexibility for the NEMS components while maintaining full compatibility with standard CMOS fabrication. The first part of this thesis presents an adhesive wafer bonding method using ultra-thin intermediate bonding layers which is utilized for merging the NEMS components with the CMOS substrate. In the second part, a novel NEM switch concept is introduced and the performance of CMOS-integrated NEM switch circuits for logic and computation applications is discussed. The third part examines two different packaging approaches for integrated MEMS and NEMS devices with either hermetic vacuum cavities or low-cost glass lids for optical applications. Finally, a novel fabrication approach for through silicon vias (TSVs) by magnetic assembly is presented, which is used to establish an electrical connection from the packaged devices to the outside world.

Wafer bonding methods with ultra-thin intermediate bonding layers are critically important in heterogeneous 3D integration technologies for many NEMS and photonic device applications. A promising wafer bonding approach for 3D integration is adhesive bonding. So far however, adhesive bonding processes relied on relatively thick intermediate adhesive layers. In this paper, we present an adhesive wafer bonding process using an ultra-thin intermediate adhesive layer with sub-200 nm thickness. We demonstrate adhesive bonding of silicon wafers with a near perfect bonding yield of >99% and achieve less than ±10% non-uniformity of the intermediate layer thickness across an entire 100 mm-diameter wafer. A bond strength of 4.8 MPa was measured for our polymer adhesive, which is considerably higher than previously reported for other ultra-thin film adhesives. Additionally, the adhesive polymer used in the proposed method features excellent chemical and mechanical stability. We also report on a potential strategy for mitigating the formation of micro-voids in the polymer adhesive at the bond interface. Furthermore, the polymer adhesive can be sacrificially removed by oxygen plasma etching for both isotropic and anisotropic release etching. The characteristics of the adhesive wafer bonding process and its compatibility with CMOS wafers, makes it very attractive for heterogeneous 3D integration processes targeted at CMOS-integrated NEMS and photonic devices.

This work reports a parallelized magnetic assembly method for scalable and cost-effective through-silicon via (TSV) fabrication. Our fabrication approach achieves high throughput by utilizing multiple magnets below the substrate to assemble TSV structures on many dies in parallel. Experimental results show simultaneous filling of four arrays of TSVs on a single substrate, with 100 via-holes each, in less than 20 seconds. We demonstrate that increasing the degree of parallelization by employing more assembly magnets below the substrate has no negative effect on the TSV filling speed or yield, thus enabling scaled-up TSV fabrication on full wafer-level. This method shows potential for industrial application with an estimated throughput of more than 70 wafers per hour in one single fabrication module. Such a TSV fabrication process could offer shorter processing times as well as higher obtainable aspect ratios compared to conventional TSV filling methods.

In this paper, we demonstrate a novel manufacturing technology for high-aspect-ratio vertical interconnects for high-frequency applications. This novel approach is based on magnetic self-assembly of prefabricated nickel wires that are subsequently insulated with a thermosetting polymer. The high-frequency performance of the through silicon vias (TSVs) is enhanced by depositing a gold layer on the outer surface of the nickel wires and by reducing capacitive parasitics through a low-k polymer liner. As compared with conventional TSV designs, this novel concept offers a more compact design and a simpler, potentially more cost-effective manufacturing process. Moreover, this fabrication concept is very versatile and adaptable to many different applications, such as interposer, micro electromechanical systems, or millimeter wave applications. For evaluation purposes, coplanar waveguides with incorporated TSV interconnections were fabricated and characterized. The experimental results reveal a high bandwidth from dc to 86 GHz and an insertion loss of <0.53 dB per single TSV interconnection for frequencies up to 75 GHz.

Device encapsulation and packaging often constitutes a substantial part of the fabrication cost of micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) transducers and imaging sensor devices. In this paper, we propose a simple and cost-effective wafer-level capping method that utilizes a limited number of highly standardized process steps as well as low-cost materials. The proposed capping process is based on low-temperature adhesive wafer bonding, which ensures full complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility. All necessary fabrication steps for the wafer bonding, such as cavity formation and deposition of the adhesive, are performed on the capping substrate. The polymer adhesive is deposited by spray-coating on the capping wafer containing the cavities. Thus, no lithographic patterning of the polymer adhesive is needed, and material waste is minimized. Furthermore, this process does not require any additional fabrication steps on the device wafer, which lowers the process complexity and fabrication costs. We demonstrate the proposed capping method by packaging two different MEMS devices. The two MEMS devices include a vibration sensor and an acceleration switch, which employ two different electrical interconnection schemes. The experimental results show wafer-level capping with excellent bond quality due to the re-flow behavior of the polymer adhesive. No impediment to the functionality of the MEMS devices was observed, which indicates that the encapsulation does not introduce significant tensile nor compressive stresses. Thus, we present a highly versatile, robust, and cost-efficient capping method for components such as MEMS and imaging sensors.

A possibility of gyrotron operation at a very low voltage, 1.5-2 kV, is considered in the context of dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) application. Simulations predict that a low-voltage device has some specific but useful features like efficiency operation at high axial modes and capability of wide-band frequency tuning.

Feasibility of a gyrotron for the dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) purpose, integrated with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer inside a single cryomagnet, is analyzed on the basis of numerical simulations. The necessary condition for DNP is matching of the gyrotrino and DNP frequencies. This imposes a strong restriction on the gyrotron operating voltage, which should be less than 2 kV. The most part of the uniform magnetic field region in the cryomagnet is occupied by a sample with NMR probe, so there is a very limited space for the gyrotron cavity. This dictates a number of peculiarities for the gyrotrino design, in particular, the diffraction power output from the cathode end of the cavity and collecting of a thin electron beam in a strong magnetic field. According to simulations, the gyrotrino operating at the fundamental cyclotron resonance with a voltage of 1.5 kV can provide an output power of 10-20 W at a frequency of 264 GHz, which is suitable for many NMR-DNP experiments.

The present invention relates to a method to attach a shape memory alloy wire to a substrate, where the wire is mechanically attached into a 3D structure on the substrate. The present invention also relates to a device comprising a shape memory alloy wire attached to a substrate, where the wire is mechanically attached into a 3D structure on the substrate.

Current waveguide flange standards do not allow for the accurate fitting of microchips, due to the large mechanical tolerances of the flange alignment pins and the brittle nature of Silicon, requiring greatly oversized alignment holes on the chip to fit worst-case fabrication tolerances, resulting in unacceptably large misalignment error for sub-THz frequencies. This paper presents, for the first time, a new method for directly aligning micromachined Silicon chips to standard, i.e. unmodified, waveguide flanges with alignment accuracy significantly better than the waveguide-flange fabrication tolerances, through the combination of a tightly-fitting circular and an elliptical alignment hole on the chip. A Monte Carlo analysis predicts the reduction of the mechanical assembly margin by a factor of 5.5 compared to conventional circular holes, reducing the potential chip misalignment from 46 μm to 8.5 μm for a probability of fitting of 99.5%. For experimental verification, micromachined waveguide chips using either conventional (oversized) circular or the proposed elliptical alignment holes were fabricated and measured. A reduction in the standard deviation of the reflection coefficient by a factor of up to 20 was experimentally observed from a total of 200 measurements with random chip placement, exceeding the expectations from the Monte Carlo analysis. To our knowledge, this paper presents the first solution for highly accurate assembly of micromachined waveguide chips to standard waveguide flanges, requiring no custom flanges or other tailor-made split blocks.

We present a facile two-stage UV/UV activation method for the polymerization of off-stoichiometry thiol-ene-epoxy, OSTE+, networks. We show that the handling and processing of these epoxy-based resins is made easier by introducing a material with a controlled curing technique based on two steps, where the first step offers excellent processing capabilities, and the second step yields a polymer with suitable end-properties. We investigate the sequential thiol-ene and thiol-epoxy reactions during these steps by studying the mechanical properties, functional group conversion, water absorption, hydrolytic stability, and thermal stability in several different thiol-ene-epoxy formulations. Finally, we conclude that the curing stages can be separated for up to 24 h, which is promising for the usefulness of this technique in industrial applications.

This paper reports on both the wafer-level fixation and electrical connection of pre-strained SMA wires to silicon MEMS using electroplating, and on the fabrication of the first Joule-heated Shape memory alloy (SMA) wire actuators on silicon. The integration method provides both high bond strength and electrical connections in one processing step, and it allows mass production of microactuators having high work density. SEM observation showed an intimate interconnection between the SMA wires and the silicon substrate. The variation of the actuators' performance across the wafer was evaluated on three 4.5 mm × 1.8 mm footprint devices, proving repeatable results. The actuators showed a mean hot state deflection of 536 μm and a mean stroke of 354 μm at a low power consumption (less than 70 mW). One actuator was tested for m150 × 103 cycles, and it demonstrated a highly reliable long-term performance, showing neither material degradation, nor failure of the nickel anchors.

In this thesis work the manufacturing of through glass vias (TGVs) is presented.

The TGVs were manufactured by adapting technique based on magnetic assembly

developed at KTH for creating through silicon vias (TSVs). TGVs were fabricated

by introducing nickel wires in via-holes that were pre-made on a glass substrate

and applying a spin-on polymer to isolate the nickel wires from the walls of the

via-holes.

Another focus of this work was improving the TGV and TSV manufacturing

process. This was done by investigating the inuence of the assembly speeds on

the yield of the assembly process. Two methods for removing the excess wires left

on the surface of the wafer after the magnetic assembly of the nickel wires were

tested. Also the inuence the pitch between the via-holes has on the yield of the

process was investigated.

Background: More than 2 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed annually in the United States, which makes it the most common form of cancer in that country. Early detection of cancer usually results in less extensive treatment and better outcome for the patient. Millimeter wave silicon micromachined waveguide probe is foreseen as an aid for skin diagnosis, which is currently based on visual inspection followed by biopsy, in cases where the macroscopical picture raises suspicion of malignancy. Aims: Demonstration of the discrimination potential of tissues of different water content using a novel micromachined silicon waveguide probe. Secondarily, the silicon probe miniaturization till an inspection area of 600 × 200 μm2, representing a drastic reduction by 96.3% of the probing area, in comparison with a conventional WR-10 waveguide. The high planar resolution is required for histology and early-state skin-cancer detection. Material and methods: To evaluate the probe three phantoms with different water contents, i.e. 50%, 75% and 95%, mimicking dielectric properties of human skin were characterized in the frequency range of 95-105 GHz. The complex permittivity values of the skin are obtained from the variation in frequency and amplitude of the reflection coefficient (S11), measured with a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), by comparison with finite elements simulations of the measurement set-up, using the commercially available software, HFSS. The expected frequency variation is calculated with HFSS and is based on extrapolated complex permittivities, using one relaxation Debye model from permittivity measurements obtained using the Agilent probe. Results: Millimeter wave reflection measurements were performed using the probe in the frequency range of 95-105 GHz with three phantoms materials and air. Intermediate measurement results are in good agreement with HFSS simulations, based on the extrapolated complex permittivity. The resonance frequency lowers, from the idle situation when it is probing air, respectively by 0.7, 1.2 and 4.26 GHz when a phantom material of 50%, 75% and 95% water content is measured. Discussion: The results of the measurements in our laboratory set-up with three different phantoms indicate that the probe may be able to discriminate between normal and pathological skin tissue, improving the spatial resolution in histology and on skin measurements, due to the highly reduced area of probing. Conclusion: The probe has the potential to discriminate between normal and pathological skin tissue. Further, improved information, compared to the optical histological inspection can be obtained, i.e. the complex permittivity characterization is obtained with a high resolution, due to the highly reduced measurement area of the probe tip.

A silicon micromachined waveguide on-chip sensor for J-band (220-325 GHz) is presented. The sensor is based on a micromachined cavity resonator provided with an aperture in the top side of a hollow waveguide for sensing purposes. The waveguide is realized by microfabrication in a silicon wafer, goldmetallized and assembled by thermocompression bonding. The sensor is used for measuring the complex relative permittivity of different materials. Preliminary measurements of several dielectric materials are performed, demonstrating the potential of the sensor and methodology.

Bead-based microwell array technology is growing as an ultrasensitive target detection tool. However, dissemination of the technology and its commercial use are hampered by current fabrication methods for hydrophilic-in-hydrophobic microwell arrays, which are either expensive or labour-intensive to manufacture, or which results in low bead seeding efficiencies. In this paper, we present a novel single-step manufacturing method for imprinting cheap and disposable hydrophilic-in-hydrophobic microwell arrays suitable for single-molecule detection. Single-step imprinting of hydrophilic-in-hydrophobic microwell arrays is made possible using an innovative surface energy replication approach by means of a hydrophobic thiol-ene polymer formulation. In this polymer, hydrophobic-moiety-containing monomers self-assemble against the hydrophobic surface of the imprinting stamp, which results in a hydrophobic replica surface after polymerization. After removing the stamp, hydrophilic wells are obtained with the well bottoms consisting of glass substrate. We demonstrate that the hydrophilic-in-hydrophobic imprinted microwell arrays enable successful and efficient self-assembly of individual water droplets and seeding of magnetic beads with loading efficiencies up to 96%. We also demonstrate the suitability of the microwell arrays for the isolation and detection of single-molecules achieving a limit of detection of 17.4 aM when performing a streptavidin-biotin binding assay. The ease of manufacturing demonstrated here is expected to allow translation of digital microwell array technology towards diagnostic applications.

We report a novel polymer material formulation and stamp-molding technique that enable rapid single-step manufacturing of hydrophilic-in-hydrophobic microwell arrays. We developed a modified thiol-ene-epoxy polymer (mOSTE+) formulation that mimics the surface energy of its mold during polymerization. The polymer inherits the surface energy from the mold through molecular self-assembly, in which functional monomers self-assemble at the interface between the liquid prepolymer and the mold surface. Combining this novel mOSTE+ material with a stamp-molding process leads to simultaneous surface energy mimicking and micro-structuring. This method was used to manufacture microwells with hydrophilic bottom and hydrophobic sidewall, depressed in a surrounding hydrophobic surface. The microwell arrays were successfully tested for the self-assembly of 62’000 femtoliter-droplets. Such femtoliter droplet arrays are useful for, e.g., digital ELISA and single cell/molecule analysis applications.

Nanogap electrodes consist of pairs of electrically conducting tips that exhibit nanoscale gaps. They are building blocks for a variety of applications in quantum electronics, nanophotonics, plasmonics, nanopore sequencing, molecular electronics, and molecular sensing. Crack-junctions (CJs) constitute a new class of nanogap electrodes that are formed by controlled fracture of suspended bridge structures fabricated in an electrically conducting thin film under residual tensile stress. Key advantages of the CJ methodology over alternative technologies are that CJs can be fabricated with wafer-scale processes, and that the width of each individual nanogap can be precisely controlled in a range from <2 to >100 nm. While the realization of CJs has been demonstrated in initial experiments, the impact of the different design parameters on the resulting CJs has not yet been studied. Here we investigate the influence of design parameters such as the dimensions and shape of the notches, the length of the electrode-bridge and the design of the anchors, on the formation and propagation of cracks and on the resulting features of the CJs. We verify that the design criteria yields accurate prediction of crack formation in electrode-bridges featuring a beam width of 280 nm and beam lengths ranging from 1 to 1.8 mu m. We further present design as well as experimental guidelines for the fabrication of CJs and propose an approach to initiate crack formation after release etching of the suspended electrode-bridge, thereby enabling the realization of CJs with pristine electrode surfaces.

Achieving near-atomic-scale electronic nanogaps in a reliable and scalable manner will facilitate fundamental advances in molecular detection, plasmonics, and nanoelectronics. Here, a method is shown for realizing crack-defined nanogaps separating TiN electrodes, allowing parallel and scalable fabrication of arrays of sub-10 nm electronic nanogaps featuring individually defined gap widths.