Technology Development for High-Actuator-Count MEMS DM Systems

Boston Micromachines Corporation proposes high-precision deformable mirror (DM) systems with one hundred actuators across the active aperture, corresponding to almost eight thousand actuators in the device’s circular aperture, using an innovative new approach for packaging and integration. The proposed work focuses on a technology gap that NASA has identified as critical for space-based exoplanet imaging: production techniques for small-stroke, high-reliability, high-precision deformable mirror systems. The main objective in this Phase II project is to substantially increase the state-of-the-art for the number of actuators in a compact MEMS DM system using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) production processes and employing a multiple-layer approach to integrating routing line layers in the device. MEMS DMs will be bonded to custom manufactured printed circuit boards using conductive epoxy bonds and flip-chip alignment based on anew stencil printing process demonstrated in the Phase I project. The proposed work includes testing and evaluation of surface topography of DMs before and after bonding and assessment of actuator yield and reliability.