TY - JOUR
T1 - MEMS inductor fabrication and emerging applications in power electronics and neurotechnologies
AU - Le, Hoa Thanh
AU - Haque, Rubaiyet I.
AU - Ouyang, Ziwei
AU - Lee, Seung Woo
AU - Fried, Shelley I.
AU - Zhao, Ding
AU - Qiu, Min
AU - Han, Anpan
N1 - This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any mediumor format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changesweremade. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - MEMS inductors are used in a wide range of applications in micro- and nanotechnology, including RF MEMS, sensors, power electronics, and Bio-MEMS. Fabrication technologies set the boundary conditions for inductor design and their electrical and mechanical performance. This review provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art MEMS technologies for inductor fabrication, presents recent advances in 3D additive fabrication technologies, and discusses the challenges and opportunities of MEMS inductors for two emerging applications, namely, integrated power electronics and neurotechnologies. Among the four top-down MEMS fabrication approaches, 3D surface micromachining and through-substrate-via (TSV) fabrication technology have been intensively studied to fabricate 3D inductors such as solenoid and toroid in-substrate TSV inductors. While 3D inductors are preferred for their high-quality factor, high power density, and low parasitic capacitance, in-substrate TSV inductors offer an additional unique advantage for 3D system integration and efficient thermal dissipation. These features make in-substrate TSV inductors promising to achieve the ultimate goal of monolithically integrated power converters. From another perspective, 3D bottom-up additive techniques such as ice lithography have great potential for fabricating inductors with geometries and specifications that are very challenging to achieve with established MEMS technologies. Finally, we discuss inspiring and emerging research opportunities for MEMS inductors.
AB - MEMS inductors are used in a wide range of applications in micro- and nanotechnology, including RF MEMS, sensors, power electronics, and Bio-MEMS. Fabrication technologies set the boundary conditions for inductor design and their electrical and mechanical performance. This review provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art MEMS technologies for inductor fabrication, presents recent advances in 3D additive fabrication technologies, and discusses the challenges and opportunities of MEMS inductors for two emerging applications, namely, integrated power electronics and neurotechnologies. Among the four top-down MEMS fabrication approaches, 3D surface micromachining and through-substrate-via (TSV) fabrication technology have been intensively studied to fabricate 3D inductors such as solenoid and toroid in-substrate TSV inductors. While 3D inductors are preferred for their high-quality factor, high power density, and low parasitic capacitance, in-substrate TSV inductors offer an additional unique advantage for 3D system integration and efficient thermal dissipation. These features make in-substrate TSV inductors promising to achieve the ultimate goal of monolithically integrated power converters. From another perspective, 3D bottom-up additive techniques such as ice lithography have great potential for fabricating inductors with geometries and specifications that are very challenging to achieve with established MEMS technologies. Finally, we discuss inspiring and emerging research opportunities for MEMS inductors.
U2 - 10.1038/s41378-021-00275-w
DO - 10.1038/s41378-021-00275-w
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 34567771
AN - SCOPUS:85112078774
SN - 2055-7434
VL - 7
JO - Microsystems and Nanoengineering
JF - Microsystems and Nanoengineering
IS - 1
M1 - 59
ER -