Nanosecond laser repair of adhered MEMS structures

Due to the small component sizes in modern microdevices, surface forces can create undesirable adhesion between microstructures, which is referred to as stiction. The current study uses a 100 ns, 1064 nm, Nd:YAG laser to repair polycrystalline silicon micro-cantilevers stuck to the underlying substrate. The results show that a Nd:YAG, 1064 lint laser is capable of repairing failed microstructures with yields exceeding those reported ill earlier studies. Yields of 100 percent for cantilevers up to 1 mm in length were demonstrated for several laser operating conditions. The Yields increase strongly with increased laser fluence and increase slightly with longer exposure times.