A high-temperature MEMS heater using suspended silicon structures

A high-temperature MEMS heater using suspended serpentine silicon beams as a filament is proposed for an infrared light source. The MEMS heater utilizes suspended silicon beams for thermal isolation and the mechanical support of heat resistors, and Pt/Ti layers for a Joule heating resistor deposited onto suspended silicon beams. An SiO₂ insulator layer was deposited to provide electrical isolation between the thermal resistor and the silicon substrate. The proposed MEMS heater did not require a closed membrane-based back-cavity structure for thermal isolation. The heater is capable of being simply fabricated by a single photolithography process and subsequent silicon anisotropic etching and metal deposition processes. The fabrication process and driving characteristics of the MEMS heater are described. High temperature achieved by the heater was measured by IR camera image processing.