Abstract
This study demonstrates the torque-enhancement design for a 2-axis magnetostatic SOI scanner driven by a double-side electroplating ferromagnetic film. The present design has two merits: (1) the slender ferromagnetic material patterns with higher length-to-width ratio enhance the magnetization, (2) the backside electroplating of the ferromagnetic film increases the volume of the ferromagnetic materials. This study also establishes the fabrication processes to implement the proposed design. The processes also have two merits: (1) the handle-layer of the SOI wafer is exploited as the shadow mask to pattern the seed-layer at the backside of the device layer, (2) the device layer of the SOI wafer acts as the cathode to enable simultaneous double-side electroplating. In applications, a 2-axis SOI scanner was implemented and characterized. Measurements show a 149% torque enhancement from the double-side electroplating design. The vertical slender ferromagnetic material patterns further increase the magnetostatic torque to 211%. This study also successfully demonstrates the Lissajous scanning using the presented 2-axis SOI scanner. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.