Fabrication and integration of permanent magnet materials into MEMS transducers

Microscale permanent magnets (PM) are a key building block for magnetically based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), such as sensors, actuators, and energy converters. However, the inability to concurrently achieve good magnetic properties and an integrated magnet fabrication process hinders the development of magnetic MEMS. To address this need, this dissertation develops methods for wafer-level microfabrication of thick (10--500+ microm), high-performance, permanent magnets using low-temperature (<180 °C) process steps. These methods and materials are then used to demonstrate fully batch-fabricated magnetic MEMS transducers.Two methods to fabricate micromagnets are developed: electroplating of Co-rich Co-Pt magnets into photoresist-defined molds and micro-packing of rare-earth magnetic powders to form wax-bonded magnets embedded in silicon. Patterned micromagnets with excellent magnetic properties and process-flow compatibility are demonstrated. Electroplated Co-Pt micromagnets with thickness up to 10 microm exhibit out-of-plane anisotropy with coercivities and energy products of 330 kA/m and 69 kJ/m3, respectively. Wax-bonded Nd-Fe-B micromagnets (500 x 500 x 320 microm3) exhibit a coercivity of 737 kA/m and a maximum energy product of 17 kJ/m3 with isotopic behavior.The wax-bonded powder magnets are then integrated into MEMS fabrication processes to batch-fabricate various electrodynamic transducer prototypes. A cantilever-type microtransducer achieves a 2.7 microm vertical deflection at a driving current of 5.5 mArms at 100 Hz. A piston-type transducer with elastomeric membrane obtains a 2.2 microm vertical displacement at a driving current of 670 mArms at 200 Hz. These devices demonstrate the integrability of wax-bonded Nd-Fe-B powder magnets into microscale electromechanical transducers.Electromechanical lumped element models are then developed for the piston-type electrodynamic actuators. The models enable prediction of the device performance as an electroacoustic actuator (microspeaker) and as a mechanoelectrical generator (vibrational energy harvester). Then, both the acoustic and energy harvesting performance of the prototype transducers are experimentally measured to verify the LEM models. The validated models provide a design tool for further design and development of these types of micromagnetic MEMS devices.