INTEGRATED MEMS TRANSDUCER AND CIRCUITRY

摘要

The invention relates to the integration of MEMS transducers with electronic circuitry on the same substrate. A method of fabricating and integrated MEMS transducer and circuitry is disclosed which is fully compatible with standard CMOS processing and requires no post processing. The transducer is formed by forming at least one membrane layer, a plurality of back-plate layer sand at least one sacrificial structure such that removal of the sacrificial structure leaves the membrane free to move relative to the fixed back-plate. The method also forms circuit layers on the substrate to form the circuit components and involves sharing layers of material such that at least some of the layers which form the back-plate of the transducer also forms one of the circuit layer sand such layer include at least one metal layer and at least one dielectric layer. The method thus reduces the number of processing steps required compared with sequential fabrication of the circuitry and the transducer. Integrated transducer and electronics devices are also taught.