A Large Range of Motion 3D MEMS Scanner With Five Degrees of Freedom

Here, we discuss a novel, mixed mode 3D XYZ scanner built within a single foundry process. The device has a large range of motion in X, Y, and Z (14.1 μm in X and Y and 97.9 μm in Z) and can also rotate about two axes (7.4°), making it a 5 degree of freedom scanner. Vertical actuation can be accomplished with both thermal actuators, which have a larger range of motion, and capacitive actuators, which are faster, responding fully up to 3.2 kHz. Although useful for many applications, including scanning probe microscopy, micrometer scale optical microscopy, and manipulation of biological objects, the device was designed to be a 3D scanner for spray-painting atoms upon a surface with nanoscale precision and resolution for nanofabrication. Demonstrating the ability to combine the device with other complicated MEMS systems, it is integrated with an XY scanner designed to serve as a shutter of atomic flux. The full system has 7 degrees of freedom and 12 actuation motors, and because it is built in a low cost commercial foundry with a robust and stable process, it is easy and inexpensive to fabricate multiple copies or integrate into other complicated systems, making a system of systems.