Novel amorphous metal thin films for mems applications

Abstract

Thin film materials development has been critical to modern advances in electronics and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS). This present work focuses on the development of advanced amorphous metal thin films for applications in Thermal Ink Jet (TIJ) devices; one of the earliest developed and most commercially successful MEMS devices to date. Collaboration between the printing division of Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Oregon State University (OSU) to develop amorphous metal thin films for thermal ink jet devices has resulted in remarkable progress toward development of thin film amorphous metals capable of handling extreme thermal and chemical shock. These results have been achieved by utilizing typical vacuum deposition processes known to be scalable into a manufacturing environment.