Singulation of MEMS is a critical step in the transition from wafer-level to die-level devices. As is the case for capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducer (CMUT) ring arrays, an ideal singulation must protect the fragile membranes from the processing environment while maintaining a ring array geometry. The singulation process presented in this paper involves bonding a trench-patterned CMUT wafer onto a support wafer, deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of the trenches, separating the CMUT wafer from the support wafer and de-tethering the CMUT device from the CMUT wafer. The CMUT arrays fabricated and singulated in this process were ring-shaped arrays, with inner and outer diameters of 5 mm and 10 mm, respectively. The fabricated CMUT ring arrays demonstrate the ability of this method to successfully and safely singulate the ring arrays and is applicable to any arbitrary 2D shaped MEMS device with uspended microstructures, taking advantage of the inherent planar attributes of DRIE.

中文翻译：

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电容式微加工超声换能器环形阵列成像的分割

MEMS 的单片化是从晶圆级器件向芯片级器件过渡的关键步骤。与电容微机械超声换能器 (CMUT) 环形阵列的情况一样，理想的分离必须在保持环形阵列几何形状的同时保护脆弱的膜免受处理环境的影响。本文介绍的分割过程包括将沟槽图案 CMUT 晶片键合到支撑晶片上、沟槽的深反应离子蚀刻 (DRIE)、将 CMUT 晶片与支撑晶片分离以及将 CMUT 器件与 CMUT 晶片解链. 在这个过程中制造和分割的 CMUT 阵列是环形阵列，内径和外径分别为 5 mm 和 10 mm。