Device processing

Design & Technical studies


Vmicro works at all Technological Readiness Levels (TRLs): from ideas at TRL1 to preproduction runs at TRL7–9.
  • Test your device concept with short design or technological loops to help decision-making.
  • Establish design rules for increasing the TRL of your project.
  • Start the first reliability studies.
Vmicro explores design variations for :
  • Preparing larger scale transfers to foundries
  • Device performance assessments

Process integration

  • Vmicro provides complex process sequences tailored to go from substrate to final device.
  • We provide design service to our customers at each step of their projects, from concept to design rules definition and mask layout.
  • Vmicro’s main know-how is based on years of experience in micro and nanotechnology and covers silicon processing for MEMS, photonic and electron devices.

    For more information on our expertise, please click on the menus below:

      Microdevices fabricated by Vmicro

      si-resonator2
      Silicon ultra-low losses RF 40GHz resonator
      Year
      2023
      Device
      Silicon resonator
      Customer
       Univ. Birmingham, IMST GmbH, ESA (European Space Agency)
      Key technological aspects done by Vmicro
      Specific Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) process for
      1 mm thick silicon etching with low scallop and large device.
      Specific process blocks for maintaining ultra- high resistivity
      Reference
      IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters, 1-4 (2023).
      phonoptics-min
      (a) Microphone for fiber optical read-out (b) SEM picture of the MEMS membrane
      Year
      2023
      Device
      MEMS sensors for transient pressures measurements
      Customer
      Phonoptics
      Key technological aspects done by Vmicro
      MEMS sensor from substrate to device.
      Reference
      Phonoptics website
      interdigital
      Nano optical gratings: (a) SEM picture of the grating, (b) cross section by FIB (Focused Ion Beam), (c) schematic of one U-shaped unit
      Year
      2022
      Device
      Nano optical gratings, optical combiner
      Customer
      Interdigital R&D (ex Technicolor)
      Key technological aspects done by Vmicro
      Participation to process flow chart definition
      PECVD Silicon Nitride Index tuning
      Nanolithography: e-beam
      Plasma etching and full process integration
      Reference
      Optics Express Vol. 30, Issue 2, pp. 1293-1303, 2022
      Antena
      Micro-nanobolometer based on MEMS double cantilever
      Year
      2021
      Device
      Micro-nano bolometer compatible with THz radiation
      Customer
      S. Barbieri – IEMN UMR CRNS 8520
      Key technological aspects done by Vmicro
      Process proposition
      Design rules definition
      Fabrication of nanostructured bolometer on SOI substrate
      Reference
      Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 261103 (2022)
      Photonic cavity on a SOI based silicon wageguide for THz spectroscopy
      Year
      2021
      Device
      Photonic cavity, SOI platform for THz sensors
      Project
      TERAFOOD INTERREG consortium
      Key technological aspects done by Vmicro
      Full fabrication of the devices.
      Back-end technical solutions.
      Specific DRIE silicon etching processes
      Reference
      Optics Express, 2022, 30(5), pp. 6656–6670
      IEEE Transactions on THz Sci.and Tech., 2021, 11(1), pp. 42–53, 9179004
      Suspended Photonic guides and resonators on silicon dioxide pedestal
      Year
      2019
      Device
      Optomechanical Atomic Force Microscope probe proof of concept
      Project
      ANR Olympia
      Key technological aspects done by Vmicro
      Fabrication of the first prototypes with new design rules. Co-fabrication with consortium partners.
      Reference
      Nanoscale, 2020,12, 2939-2945
      Atomic Force Microscope probe with integrated transducers and shuttle design
      Year
      2017
      Device
      AFM probe based on MEMS sensor
      Project
      Vmicro internal R&D + IEMN collaboration
      Key technological aspects done by Vmicro
      Transducers design, piezoresistive and electrothermal
      Probe design
      Full fabrication
      Reference
      Applied Physics Letters 110 (24), 243101 (2017).
      Lprobes: AFM Probes based on in-plane silicon technology