Overcurrent protector with adjustable rated current and capable of being monitored and preparation methodTechnical Field
The invention relates to an overcurrent protector and a preparation method thereof.
Background
In order to prevent the circuit or the system from being damaged due to the influence of overcurrent, an overcurrent protector needs to be introduced. When the current flowing through the circuit or the system exceeds a rated value, the overcurrent protector is triggered to work, and the internal switch is switched off, so that accidents are prevented. Since an overcurrent is often accompanied by an abnormal temperature rise, the overcurrent protector is a device sensitive to both temperature and/or current, and can control and protect a thermal overload in a circuit or system caused by the temperature and the current. The overcurrent protector is widely applied to the control and protection of the temperature and/or the current of household appliances, instruments, power converters, motors and the like.
Common overcurrent protectors on the market generally use bimetallic strain gauges with different thermal expansion coefficients as sensitive elements, the bimetallic strain gauges are deformed due to temperature rise, so that switches are disconnected to further protect circuits or systems, according to the working principle of the common overcurrent protectors, rated currents of the common overcurrent protectors are customized after the common overcurrent protectors are manufactured, the common overcurrent protectors cannot be regulated and controlled, the quality of the bimetallic strain gauges cannot be monitored in real time in the using process, and meanwhile, the conventional metal strain gauges are large in size due to the fact that the conventional metal strain gauges are manufactured and packaged, and the common overcurrent protectors are difficult to apply to miniature and intelligent scenes.
Disclosure of Invention
The purpose of the invention is as follows: aiming at the prior art, the overcurrent protector with adjustable rated current and monitoring function and the preparation method thereof are provided, so that the reliability of a circuit or a system is improved.
The technical scheme is as follows: an adjustable and monitorable overcurrent protector of rated current comprising:
a first substrate;
an open cavity formed in an upper surface of the first substrate;
the cantilever beam is a suspended part which is opposite to the open cavity and is used as a part of the first substrate, one fixed end is called a fixed end, and the other suspended end is called a suspended end;
a first insulating layer covering the upper surface of the first substrate;
the second insulating layer covers the upper surface of the first insulating layer;
a second substrate;
the first electrode is divided into an upper first electrode and a lower first electrode, is symmetrically arranged on the second substrate and the second insulating layer respectively, and is arranged from the fixed end of the cantilever beam to the free end of the cantilever beam;
the third electrode is divided into an upper third electrode and a lower third electrode, is symmetrically arranged on the second substrate and the second insulating layer respectively, and is positioned at the free end of the cantilever beam;
the second electrode is divided into an upper second electrode and a lower second electrode, is symmetrically arranged on the second substrate and the second insulating layer respectively, is positioned between the first electrode and the third electrode, and has intervals with the first electrode and the third electrode respectively;
wherein, the upper first electrode is tightly attached to the lower first electrode; the thicknesses of the upper first electrode, the upper second electrode, the upper third electrode, the lower second electrode, the lower third electrode, the lead and the bonding pad are the same and are smaller than the thickness of the lower first electrode;
the bonding layer is divided into an upper bonding layer and a lower bonding layer, is symmetrically arranged on the second substrate and the second insulating layer respectively, and is positioned at two ends of the second substrate; the first substrate and the second substrate are bonded together by a bonding layer.
Furthermore, the area of the first electrode is 40% -60% of the area of the cantilever beam, the area of the second electrode is 10% -40% of the area of the first electrode, and the area of the third electrode is 20% -50% of the area of the second electrode.
Further, the first electrode, the second electrode and the third electrode are respectively connected to a corresponding pad through a lead.
Further, the material of the first substrate is monocrystalline silicon; the material of the second substrate is glass.
Furthermore, the first insulating layer and the second insulating layer are made of silicon dioxide and silicon nitride respectively, and the thickness of the first insulating layer and the thickness of the second insulating layer are both 50-100 nm.
Furthermore, the thickness of the cantilever beam is 3-10mm, and the height of an open cavity right below the cantilever beam is 10-20 mm.
Further, the thickness of the upper first electrode, the upper second electrode, the upper third electrode, the lower second electrode, the lower third electrode, the lead and the bonding pad is 200-500 nm; the thickness of the lower first electrode is 5.5-11.8 mm.
A preparation method of the overcurrent protector with adjustable and monitorable rated current comprises the following steps:
s01: selecting monocrystalline silicon as a first substrate, and anisotropically etching a plurality of narrow shallow grooves and wide shallow grooves at the suspended end of the cantilever beam on the upper surface of the first substrate by an inductive coupling plasma etching technology;
s02: protecting the side wall of the narrow and shallow groove obtained in the step S01, simultaneously carrying out isotropic corrosion on the monocrystalline silicon below the narrow and shallow groove, and releasing the cantilever beam;
s03: growing monocrystalline silicon on the first substrate obtained in the step S02 by epitaxy, wherein a closed structure is formed at the narrow and shallow grooves, but the wide and shallow grooves cannot be closed, so that a complete cantilever beam and an open cavity are formed;
s04: forming silicon dioxide as a first insulating layer and silicon nitride as a second insulating layer on the upper surface of the first substrate obtained in the step S03 by using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process in sequence;
s05: preparing TiW on the upper surface of the first substrate obtained in the step S04 through twice stripping and magnetron sputtering to form a lower first electrode, a lower second electrode, a lower third electrode, and leads and pads of the three electrodes;
s06: preparing Ti/Ni/Au/Sn/Au in sequence on the upper surface of the first substrate obtained in the step S05 through a stripping process to form a lower bonding layer;
s07: selecting glass as a second substrate, preparing TiW on the second substrate only by once stripping and magnetron sputtering, and forming a first electrode, a second electrode, a third electrode, leads of the three electrodes and a bonding pad;
s08: sequentially preparing Ti/Ni/Au on the upper surface of the second substrate obtained in the step S07 through a stripping process to form an upper bonding layer;
s09: and bonding the first substrate obtained in the step S06 and the second substrate obtained in the step S08 together through the bonding layer by utilizing a eutectic bonding process, and simultaneously ensuring that the upper first electrode is tightly attached to the lower first electrode.
Has the advantages that: compared with the prior art, the technical scheme of the invention has the following advantages:
1. the overcurrent protector with adjustable and monitorable rated current utilizes the attraction effect of the electrostatic force to change the attaching tightness of the first electrode by applying voltage to the second electrode, thereby playing the role of regulating and controlling the rated current and widening the application range of the overcurrent protector.
2. The overcurrent protector with the adjustable rated current and the monitoring function realizes quality monitoring of the overcurrent protector on the premise of not checking the internal condition of a device by measuring the capacitance value of the third electrode, and because the capacitance structure of the third electrode can be monitored in any state of the cantilever beam, the monitoring sensitivity is high, the influence of temperature is small, and the whole-process real-time quality monitoring of the overcurrent protector can be carried out for a long time.
3. The overcurrent protector with adjustable rated current and monitoring function has the advantages of simple principle and structure, high reliability, high response speed, low loss in the using process and long service life.
4. The overcurrent protector with adjustable rated current and capable of being monitored can realize batch production due to the characteristics of the MEMS processing technology, the production cost of a single device is reduced, the related process steps are simple and easy to realize, three electrodes can be prepared on the substrate by only one to two steps of photoetching, and the preparation cost is further reduced.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a first substrate layer of the overcurrent protector of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the overcurrent protector taken along the direction A-A;
fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the preparation process of the overcurrent protector of the present invention, obtained in step S01;
fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of the preparation process of the overcurrent protector of the present invention, obtained in step S02;
fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of the preparation process of the overcurrent protector of the present invention, obtained in step S03;
fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of the preparation process of the overcurrent protector of the present invention, obtained in step S04;
fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of the preparation process of the overcurrent protector of the present invention, obtained in step S05;
fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of the preparation process of the overcurrent protector of the present invention, obtained in step S06;
fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of the preparation process of the overcurrent protector of the present invention, obtained in step S07;
fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of the preparation process of the overcurrent protector of the present invention, obtained in step S08.
Detailed Description
The invention is further explained below with reference to the drawings.
An overcurrent protector with adjustable and monitorable rated current, as shown in fig. 1-3, comprises: the structure comprises afirst substrate 1, acantilever beam 2, a firstinsulating layer 3, a secondinsulating layer 4, a first electrode 5, asecond electrode 6, athird electrode 7, alead 8, abonding layer 9, asecond substrate 10, anopen cavity 11 and abonding pad 12. Anopen cavity 11 is formed in the upper surface of thefirst substrate 1. Thecantilever beam 2 is a suspended portion facing theopen cavity 11 and is a portion of thefirst substrate 1, one end of which is fixed and called a fixed end, and the other end of which is suspended and called a suspended end. The firstinsulating layer 3 covers the upper surface of thefirst substrate 1. The secondinsulating layer 4 covers the upper surface of the first insulatinglayer 3. The first electrode 5 is divided into an upper first electrode 5-1 and a lower first electrode 5-2, which are symmetrically disposed on thesecond substrate 10 and the first insulatinglayer 3, respectively, and are disposed from the fixed end toward the free end of thecantilever 2. Thethird electrode 7 is divided into an upper third electrode 7-1 and a lower third electrode 7-2, which are symmetrically disposed on thesecond substrate 10 and the first insulatinglayer 3, respectively, and are located at the free end of thecantilever beam 2. Thesecond electrode 6 is divided into an upper second electrode 6-1 and a lower second electrode 6-1, which are symmetrically disposed on thesecond substrate 10 and the first insulatinglayer 3, respectively, and between the first electrode 5 and thethird electrode 7, with a space therebetween from the first electrode 5 and thethird electrode 7, respectively. Thebonding layer 9 is divided into an upper bonding layer 9-1 and a lower bonding layer 9-2, which are symmetrically disposed on thesecond substrate 10 and the second insulatinglayer 4, respectively, and located at two ends of thesecond substrate 10.
The area of the first electrode 5 is 40-60% of the area of thecantilever beam 2, the area of thesecond electrode 6 is 10-40% of the area of the first electrode 5, and the area of thethird electrode 7 is 20-50% of the area of thesecond electrode 6. The upper first electrode 5-1, the lower first electrode 5-2, the upper second electrode 6-1, the lower second electrode 6-1, the upper third electrode 7-1 and the lower third electrode 7-2 are respectively connected to acorresponding bonding pad 12 through alead 8. The thicknesses of the upper first electrode 5-1, the upper second electrode 6-1, the upper third electrode 7-1, the lower second electrode 6-2, the lower third electrode 7-2, thelead 8 and thebonding pad 12 are the same and smaller than the thickness of the lower first electrode 5-2. Thefirst substrate 1 and thesecond substrate 10 are bonded together through thebonding layer 9, and the upper first electrode 5-1 is closely attached to the lower first electrode 5-2.
The material of thefirst substrate 1 is monocrystalline silicon, and the material of thesecond substrate 10 is glass. The thickness of thecantilever beam 2 is 3-10mm, and the height of theopen cavity 11 right below thecantilever beam 2 is 10-20 mm. The first insulatinglayer 3 and the second insulatinglayer 4 are made of silicon dioxide and silicon nitride respectively, the thickness of the silicon dioxide and the silicon nitride is 50-100nm, and the silicon dioxide and the silicon nitride mainly play a role in insulating protection. The materials of the first electrode 5, thesecond electrode 6 and thethird electrode 7 are all TiW. The thickness design ranges of the upper first electrode 5-1, the upper second electrode 6-1, the lower second electrode 6-2, the third electrode 7-1, the lower third electrode 7-2, thelead 12 and thebonding pad 8 are all 200-500 nm; the thickness of the lower first electrode 5-2 is 5.5-11.8 mm.
In the overcurrent protector, the first electrode 5 is tightly attached under the condition that no current passes through, the first electrode 5 generates heat higher when high current passes through, the upper first electrode 5-1 keeps static, and the lower first electrode 5-2 and thecantilever beam 2 are bent downwards due to the large difference of the thermal expansion coefficients of the first electrode 5 and thecantilever beam 2, so that a gap is generated between the upper first electrode 5-1 and the lower first electrode 5-2. When the rated current is reached, the bending degree of thecantilever beam 2 reaches the maximum value, the upper first electrode 5-1 and the lower first electrode 5-2 can be completely separated, and the overcurrent protector is in a disconnected state, so that the protection function of a circuit or a system is realized.
In the invention, a certain voltage is applied to thesecond electrode 6, the upper second electrode 6-1 and the lower second electrode 6-1 generate mutual attraction due to electrostatic force, and the attraction of the electrostatic force is utilized to change the attaching tightness of the first electrode 5, namely the acting force can block the downward bending tendency of thecantilever beam 2 when the cantilever beam is electrified, so that the magnitude of rated current can be regulated and controlled, and the application range of the overcurrent protector to different rated currents is widened.
In the invention, fixed charges are applied between the upper third electrode 7-1 and the lower third electrode 7-2, a parallel plate capacitor is formed between the upper third electrode 7-1 and the lower third electrode 7-2, and the size of a gap between the upper third electrode 7-1 and the lower third electrode 7-2 can be judged by measuring the capacitance of thethird electrode 7, so that the bending condition of thecantilever beam 2 is monitored, and the quality nondestructive monitoring effect on the overcurrent protector is realized under the condition of not checking the internal condition of a device.
The invention also provides a preparation method of the over-current protector, as shown in fig. 3, comprising the following steps:
s01: monocrystalline silicon is selected as afirst substrate 1, and a plurality of narrow shallow grooves with the depth of 3-10mm and wide shallow grooves at the suspended end of acantilever beam 2 are anisotropically etched on the upper surface of the first substrate by an Inductive Coupled Plasma (ICP) etching technology to obtain the structure shown in figure 3.
S02: the side walls of the shallow and narrow grooves obtained in step S01 are protected, and simultaneously, the silicon single crystal below the shallow and narrow grooves is isotropically etched to release thecantilever beam 2, so that the structure shown in fig. 4 is obtained.
S03: and (3) performing epitaxial growth on the monocrystalline silicon on thefirst substrate 1 obtained in the step (S02), wherein the narrow and shallow grooves form a closed structure, but the wide and shallow grooves cannot be closed, so as to form acomplete cantilever beam 2 and anopen cavity 11, wherein the height of theopen cavity 11 is 10-20mm, and the thickness of thecantilever beam 2 is 3-10mm, thereby obtaining the structure shown in FIG. 5.
S04: a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) process is sequentially used to form 50-100nm thick silicon dioxide as the first insulatinglayer 3 and 50-100nm thick silicon nitride as the second insulatinglayer 4 on the upper surface of thefirst substrate 1 obtained in step S03, resulting in the structure shown in fig. 6.
S05: preparing a first electrode 5-2 under TiW, a second electrode 6-2 under TiW, a third electrode 7-2 under TiW, ametal lead 8 of the three electrodes and abonding pad 12 on the upper surface of thefirst substrate 1 obtained in the step S04 by twice stripping and magnetron sputtering; wherein the thickness of the lower first electrode 5-2 is 5.5-11.8mm, the thickness of the lower second electrode 6-2, the lower third electrode 7-2, themetal lead 8 and thebonding pad 12 are the same, and the thickness range is 200-500nm, so as to obtain the structure shown in FIG. 7.
S06: preparing Ti/Ni/Au/Sn/Au on the upper surface of thefirst substrate 1 obtained in the step S05 in sequence through a stripping process to form a lower bonding layer 9-2, and preparing for subsequent eutectic bonding, wherein Ti is used as an adhesion layer with the thickness of 30nm, Ni is used as a diffusion barrier layer with the thickness of 30nm, Au with the thickness of 20nm on the upper layer and the lower layer and Sn with the thickness of 2.9-5.9mm in the middle are made into a sandwich structure for protecting Sn from being oxidized, and the overall thickness of Ti/Ni/Au/Sn/Au is 3-6mm, so that the structure shown in FIG. 8 is obtained.
S07: selecting glass as asecond substrate 10, preparing a first electrode 5-1 on the TiW, a second electrode 6-1 on the TiW, a third electrode 7-1 on the TiW, metal leads 8 of the three electrodes and abonding pad 12 on thesecond substrate 10 through one-time stripping and magnetron sputtering; wherein the thicknesses of the upper first electrode 5-1, the upper second electrode 6-1, the upper third electrode 7-1, themetal lead 8 and thebonding pad 12 are consistent, and the thickness range is 200 and 500nm, so as to obtain the structure shown in FIG. 9.
S08: preparing Ti/Ni/Au on the upper surface of thesecond substrate 10 obtained in the step S707 in sequence by a stripping process to form an upper bonding layer 9-1, and preparing for subsequent eutectic bonding, wherein Ti is used as an adhesion layer with a thickness of 50nm, Ni is used as a diffusion barrier layer with a thickness of 50nm, Au is used with a thickness of 2.9-5.9mm, and the overall thickness of Ti/Ni/Au is 3-6mm, so as to obtain the structure shown in FIG. 10.
S09: and (3) bonding thefirst substrate 1 obtained in the step (S06) and thesecond substrate 10 obtained in the step (S08) together through thebonding layer 9 by utilizing a eutectic bonding process, and simultaneously ensuring that the upper first electrode 5-1 and the lower first electrode 5-2 are tightly attached to obtain the structure shown in FIG. 2.
The overcurrent protector with adjustable and monitorable rated current and the preparation method thereof are similar to the traditional electrostatic switch or relay, compatible with the silicon-based MEMS process and simple.
The foregoing is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, various modifications and decorations can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention, and these modifications and decorations should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.