Boston Micromachines

The initial prototyping was done in 1995 and a company, Boston Micromachines, was started in 1999 to commercialize the MEMS AO technology. 

Figure 8.13 Fabrication process flow used to manufacture Boston Micromachines MEMS DMs. A cross section of a single actuator is shown. (Used with permission from S.A. Comelissen, P.A. Bierden, and T.G. Bifano, Development of a 4096 element MEMS continuous membrane deformable mirror for high contrast astronomical imaging, Proc. SPIE 6306, p. 630606-1 [2006].) [21]. See color plate section.

The book ends with a case study of a commercial MEMS device, a deformable mirror for applications in adaptive optics, first prototyped using the PolyMUMPS process, that eventually went on to become a product offered by Boston Micromachines Corporation. This case study demonstrates that there is a path-to-the-sea from MEMS prototyping in a standard multiproject wafer fabrication process to commercialization of a robust MEMS product. Once the prototype was designed, fabricated, and tested using a multiproject wafer fabrication process, PolyMUMPS,... 

Micromachining in SiC is developed by several groups, for a review see [129]. Solzbacher et al. have constructed a microhotplate based on a SiC-membrane and a HfB thin-film heater, where the active part of the membrane is separated from the surroundings by six SiC microbridges. The heater is designed for operation temperatures up to 700°C and can be operated at 400°C with a power of 35mW [130, 131]. Boston Microsystems also offers a monolithic microhotplate in SiC [132]. 

Kovacs, G.TA. 1998. Micromachined transducers sourcebook. Boston WCB McGraw-Hill. 

R.W. Johnstone, M. Parameswaran, An Introduction to Surface Micromachining (Kluwer Academic, Boston, 2004)... 

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