NIMS's latest research: a new breakthrough in the development of MEMS sensor chips based on ultra-high quality diamond cantilever beams
Recently, a research team led by the National Institute of Materials Research (NIMS) has successfully developed a high-quality diamond cantilever with the highest mass (Q) factor at room temperature. For the first time in the world, the team has successfully developed single crystal diamond microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor chips that can be driven and sensed by electrical signals. These results can promote the research of diamond microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which has higher sensitivity and higher reliability than existing silicon microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
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MEMS sensors - where the microcantilever (projection beam fixed at one end) and electronic circuitry are integrated on a single substrate - have been used for gas sensors, mass analyzers and scanning microscope probes. The application of MEMS sensors in a wider range of fields such as disaster prevention and medicine needs to further improve its sensitivity and reliability. Diamond's elastic constant and mechanical constant are among the highest of all materials, making it ideal for developing highly reliable and ultra-sensitive MEMS sensors. However, due to the high hardness of diamond, three-dimensional micromachining is difficult. The research team developed a "smart cutting" manufacturing method that enabled the micromachining of diamonds with ion beams and successfully fabricated single crystal diamond cantilevers in 2010. However, due to surface defects, the quality factor of the diamond cantilever beam is similar to that of the existing silicon cantilever beam.
Figure: Photomicrograph of a diamond MEMS chip developed by this study and a diamond cantilever integrated into the chip.
The team then developed a new technique for atomic etching on the diamond surface. This etching technique allows the removal of defects in the bottom surface of a single crystal diamond cantilever beam fabricated using the smart cutting method. The resulting Q-factor value of the cantilever beam, a parameter used to measure the sensitivity of the cantilever beam, exceeds 1 million, ranking the highest in the world. The group then proposed a new MEMS device concept: an integrated electronic circuit that combines a cantilever beam, an oscillating cantilever beam, and an electronic circuit that senses the vibration of the cantilever beam. Finally, the research team developed a single crystal diamond MEMS chip that can be driven by an electrical signal, and successfully demonstrated its working principle for the first time in the world. The chip's high performance, high sensitivity, and ability to operate at low voltages and temperatures up to 600 °C.
These results can accelerate the practical application of diamond MEMS chips, especially the critical basic technology research, and hope to develop ultra-sensitive, high-speed, compact, high-performance, extremely reliable sensors that can distinguish the quality of single molecules.
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