Patent ID: 7556979

Claim:
A method for fabricating a negative thermal expanding system device, comprising the steps of: heating a substrate to a desired reference temperature; depositing a blanket of an organic release layer onto the substrate; depositing a first layer of material onto the organic released layer; depositing a second layer of material having a greater TCE value than the first layer of material; depositing a decomposable polymer layer onto the second layer of material; patterning the decomposable polymer layer into disk shapes with finger-like appendages radiating from the disk; depositing a third layer of material having the same TCE value as the second layer of material over the decomposable polymer layer; depositing a fourth layer of material having the same TCE value as the first layer of material onto the third layer material; depositing a layer of photoresist onto the fourth layer material; lithographically patterning such that the disk shapes of resist are left covering the decomposable polymer disks buried below and orienting the photoresist layer concentrically; etching through an exposed area of all layers of material and the organic release layer the until the silicon substrate is encountered on the bottom; removing the photoresist layer; releasing a structure from the substrate; and annealing thermally to decompose the polymer core to form the negative thermal expansion system device.