<azonenberg> i think i have my layout finished
<azonenberg> scale bar is 1mm
<kristianpaul> "hello word" for MEMS?
<azonenberg> kristianpaul: Yep, pretty much
<azonenberg> This is the metal1 pattern, the bulk etch pattern is at *uploads*
<soul-d> you know  the program "toped" ?looks similar found it on fedora distribution
<azonenberg> soul-d: i've heard about it
<azonenberg> glade is my current tool of choice but i am open to moving
<azonenberg> i tried a few open source ones and didnt like any yet
<azonenberg> this one is freeware but closed source
<azonenberg> full 2" wafer of the things, plus alignment marks etc
<soul-d> it looked quite similar but it is in the electronic spin of fedora
<azonenberg> i heard some other folks recommending it
<azonenberg> i'll look at it again
<soul-d> jsut mentioning cause i know fedora would not include stuff that gets unstable  and easy to install wich would get stuff out of the way for random people looking at it
<azonenberg> Yeah, i will definitely look at it
<soul-d> looks cool no idea what id does  well  maybe  "tiny" bit , the first pic  the comb thingy is suposed to move right ?
<azonenberg> the bottom fingers are fixed
<azonenberg> the top fingers can move - see the spring above them?
<azonenberg> The two large metal pads at top and bottom are test pads for probing
<azonenberg> you stick a needle down on each one and apply voltage
<azonenberg> the fingers then behave like a parallel plate capacitor and develop a charge
<azonenberg> which causes them to attract
<azonenberg> And kristianpaul is right, this is pretty much the 'hello world' app of mems
<azonenberg> doing anything more complex will be difficult but i'm hoping to get there eventually
<soul-d> but how does it become a  spring just because of the form ?  or  will the lanes that make the spring hover  by some etchin thecnique ?  hard to visualize 3d  sofar it has   it :)
<azonenberg> soul-d: This is a top down view
<azonenberg> it will be etched pretty much vertically into the wafer
<azonenberg> the structures will be around 50 microns high
<azonenberg> the rest of the ~500 micron thick wafer will be etched away before i do the fine patterning
<azonenberg> Yeah, i've seen those things
<azonenberg> microfluidics is something that might be worth playing with at some point