MULTILAYER BUILD PROCESSES AND DEVICES THEREOF
A process to form devices may include forming a seed layer on and/or over a substrate, modifying a seed layer selectively, forming an image-wise mold layer on and/or over a substrate and/or electrodepositing a first material on and/or over an exposed conductive area. A process may include selectively applying a temporary patterned passivation layer on a conductive substrate, selectively forming an image-wise mold layer on and/or over a substrate, forming a first material on and/or over at least one of the exposed conductive areas and/or removing a temporary patterned passivation layer. A process may include forming a sacrificial image-wise mold layer on a substrate layer, selectively placing one or more first materials in one or more exposed portions of a substrate layer, forming one or more second materials on and/or over a substrate layer and/or removing a portion of a sacrificial image-wise mold layer.
1 . A method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure by a sequential build process, comprising:
disposing a plurality of layers over a substrate, wherein the layers comprise a layer of a conductive material and a layer of a sacrificial material, thereby forming a structure above the substrate, comprising a first microstructural element having one or more walls comprised of a plurality of layers of the conductive material, the walls defining a cavity therein; and
providing a second microstructural element comprising a magnetic material within the cavity using a pick-and-place process.
2 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , comprising continuing the build process by disposing a plurality of layers conductive and sacrificial materials over the layer containing the second microstructural element.
3 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein the walls comprise windings.
4 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein the second material comprises one or more of nickel iron and cobalt iron.
5 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second microstructural elements comprise a multi-turn inductor.
6 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second microstructural elements comprise a double multi-turn inductor.
7 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein the walls comprise a coil, and wherein the structure above the substrate comprises a void space between the first and second microstructural elements.
8 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein the structure above the substrate comprises a microstructural support element comprising a non-conductive material, the support element configured to support the second microstructural element within the cavity.
9 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 8 , wherein the support element comprises one or more of a post and a strap.
10 . (canceled)
11 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein the step of disposing a plurality of layers comprises providing a seed layer and selectively applying a patterned passivation layer over the seed layer to expose a first portion of the seed layer and to block a second portion of the seed layer.
12 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 11 , comprising selectively removing the exposed first portion of the seed layer.
13 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein for a selected layer strata, the layers of sacrificial and conductive materials within the strata have the same height in a direction normal to the selected layer.
14 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein the second microstructural element comprises a ferrite.
15 . A three-dimensional microstructure formed by the process of claim 1 .
16 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein a selected layer strata comprises a metal, a magnetic material, and a non-magnetic material.
17 . The method of forming a three-dimensional microstructure according to claim 1 , wherein a selected layer strata comprises at least a portion of the cavity and two or more different conductive materials.