IMEC builds 11 megapixel micromirror array for industrial applications

December 23, 2008--Nanoelectronics and nanotechnology research group IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) has built a monolithically integrated 11 megapixel micromirror array for high-end industrial applications--a world first both in terms of pixel density and reliability. Each mirror in the array is 8 µm x 8µm and can be individually tilted by the high-speed integrated CMOS circuitry underneath the array.

This array fits in IMEC's CMORE initiative, which offers cost-effective solutions for continued system scaling, not by shrinking CMOS but by focusing on monolithic co-integration of heterogeneous technology. The array has a pixel density that is almost double that of comparable state-of-the-art micro-mirrors. And IMEC has demonstrated that its mirrors show no creep and meet a 10-to-the-12th-power cycles mechanical lifetime. Integrated micromirror arrays such as this one, are used in, for example, video projection or lithography mask writers.

IMEC fabricated the 8 µm mirrors on top of foundry high-voltage 0.18 µm CMOS 200 mm wafers with 6 interconnect levels. The array was built using IMEC's proprietary SiGe-based MEMS platform, meeting the mirror's mechanical reliability requirements, device flatness, and compatibility with high-speed CMOS.

For more information, go to www.imec.be.

--Posted by Gail Overton, [email protected].