Design and fabrication of 3-D MEMS micro scanner for confocal microscopy

Abstract

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is the technology of design and fabrication of microscopic devices. Using MEMS techniques the size of the devices can be minimized as well as the fabrication cost. Laser confocal scanning microscopy is an optical microscopy technique used in many industrial applications including life sciences and materials science, to increase the contrast and optical resolution of the image. It eliminates the out of focus light while reconstructing the image. In confocal microscopy, the laser beam is scanned over the sample. For this purpose, a 3 dimensional MEMS micro scanner is designed and fabricated in this thesis. The working principles of confocal microscopy and the types of micro scanners used are explained. The design and fabrication steps of the micro scanner are clarified explicitly. Additionally, a stainless steel micro scanner is designed and fabricated for 3 di mensional imaging. The working principle of this device, its design and simulations are shown. Characterization and measurement of the fabricated devices and are also impor tant to observe if the designs are compatible with simulations. Several characterization setups are proposed and their calculations are explained in detail.