514 Chapter 19 MEMS G. Cibuzar In the early 1960s, researchers realized that the fabrication techniques developed for standard silicon integrated-circuit (IC) processing could be extended to fabricate nontraditional silicon devices. Unlike ICs, which rely on the electrical properties of silicon, these devices utilized silicon’s mechanical prop- erties to form flexible membranes capable of moving in response to pressure changes, By detecting this motion, and converting the motion to an electrically measurable signal, a pressure sensor Was cfe- ated. Soon after these early sensors came the development of actuators, which are miniature electro- mechanical devices that move in response to an electrical input. These were the early years of the field now known as micromachining or MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) [1~3]. Traditional MEMS devices are characterized as either sensors or actuators. Sensors generate an electrical signal from physical stimuli such as pressure, acceleration, heat, and radiation, Actuators convert electrical energy to some form of controlled motion. Examples of MEMS sensors include acceleration sensors used for automobile airbag deployment control, pressure sensors mounted on the tip of catheters for use in intracardiac (within the heart) monitoring of blood pressure, and chemical sensors that quantitatively detect gaseous compounds. Examples of MEMS actuators include video display systems using digital mirror devices consisting of over one million individually controlled micromirrors, ink-dispensing nozzles used in inkjet printers, and valves and pumps used in miniature fluidic systems (fluid volumes in the microliter to nanoliter range). Traditional MEMS devices rely on materials typically used in silicon IC fabrication, such as single crystal silicon, polysilicon, silicon dioxide, and silicon nitride. Due to the mechanical nature of MEMS devices, intrinsic material prop- erties such as Young's medulus, temperature coefficient of expansion, and yield strength are import- ant in MEMS design. Since MEMS structures often have unsupported (or freestanding) elements, thin film stress and stress gradients within the film need to be tightly controlled, or the unsupported elements will break or curl, rendering the structure useless. Thin film deposition conditions directly impact the level of stress in thin films, and must be tightly controlled to yield functioning sensors and actuators. Even though silicon IC fabricators and traditional MEMS researchers use the same pro- cessing tools, each has unique processing issues. IC device processing issues, such as gate oxide integrity, device isolation, and submicron gate formation, are not of much concern for MEMS. Simi- larly, MEMS processing concerns, such as controlled etching for membrane formation, mechanical friction of microscopic parts, and surface tension effects, do not normally trouble the IC process engineer. Many processing issues do affect both standard IC and MEMS fabrication, including thin film stress, pianarization, and selective wet and dry etching. A thorough knowledge of the19.1 Fundamentals of Mechanics 515 lithographic and thin film fabrication techniques common to both technologies is important for the MEMS device design and process engineer. As MEMS technology matures, more integration between MEMS devices and signal processing and control circuitry will force designers and process engineers to appreciate the subtleties of both MEMS and IC fabrication, This chapter is an introduction to the traditional MEMS fabrication processes of bulk and surface micromachining, including examples of common MEMS sensors and actuators. Given the diverse applicability of MEMS devices, one chapter can only touch the surface of the many ways these devices have been used. Similarly, the large number of processing variations cannot possibly be related in one chapter. A grounding in the basic processes and implementations will, however, pro vvide the proper foundation for further study of more advanced MEMS topics, 19.1 Fundamentals of Mechanics Lea To understand the design and operation of MEMS devices, a basic knowledge of the mechanics of materials is necessary. A brief discussion of basic concepts will provide sufficient background for understanding MEMS devices. These concepts include stress, strain, Hooke’s law, Poisson’s ratio, and film stress. A complete discussion of this field is beyond the scope of this chapter, but many well-known reference books can be consulted for more complete study [4-6], When a solid body of a homogencous material is subjected to a force, the body will respond to the force by changing shape. For nonsolid materials such as liquids, this change is dramatic, For solids, the changes are usually quite small, often too small to notice with the eye, except in cases of large forces that may cause irreversible damage. Consider a solid rod of initial length Ly and diameter D subjected to a tensile force F uniformly applied to the ends of the rod Force F as shown in Figure 19.1. This tensile force will cause the rod to lengthen by an amount AZ. This lengthening of the rod is described by the axial ttt strain 6, where e, is defined by 6, = (AL)Ly (19.1) Strain is a dimensionless quantity, and is usually expressed in units of 10~°, or microstrains, because for most materials strain values are quite small, Stress, denoted by g, is defined in terms of the force F and the area over which F is applied. For the uniformly applied force F in Figure 19.1, Foor es" oP (192) The units of stress o are commonly newtons per square meter, of Pascals (Pa). The standard sign convention for stress is for tensile stresses to be negative and compressive stresses to be positive. Note that the force F in Figure 19.1 is acting perpendicularly to the end of the rod, This type of force is termed an axial force, and results in an axial strain e, and axial i stress 0,. Shear forces, which act parallel to the surface of a body, gener- Force F ate shear stress and strain, ‘One important way of characterizing materials is to measure their Figure 19.1 Rod elongation due toa stress-strain curve. Using a tensile test machine, a bar of the material under tensile force F. test is subjected to a uniform axial loading force. Sensitive measuringTensile strength P = proportional limit Ductile (mild steel) Strain Figure 19.2. stress-strain curve for a typical metal as well as for a brittle material like silicon (high Young’s modulus and no plastic deformation region) (reprinted with remission from Madou [7]. Copyright CRC Press). devices determine changes in the length as a con- trolled tensile force is applied to the bar. By measuring the change in length as a function of tensile force, a stress-strain curve is generated for the material. Fig- ure 19.2 shows a typical stress-strain curve for a duc~ tile material such as mild steel, and a brittle material such as silicon or glass [7]. Both materials show a region of Jow strain values where stress and strain are linearly related. This linear region ends at stresses cor- responding to the proportional limit, defined as the highest point on the stress-strain curve where if the force is removed, the bar will return to its original length. Stresses beyond the proportional limit result in permanent deformation of the bar. For ductile mater- ials, beyond the proportional limit are regions in which the bar will elongate due to plastic deformation, and reach a maximum stress value (called the ultimate ten- sile strength) before eventual fracture (breaking) of the bat. By definition, the yield strength is the stress value that results in a permanent strain of 0.002 when the force is removed. Brittle materials exhibit essentially no plastic deformation, and fracture soon after reach- ing the proportional limit, Table 19.1 shows material constants for some common materials, includ- ing silicon. Hooke’s Law describes the linear relationship between the stress and strain at low stress values, oe (19.3) where E is the slope of the linear region of the stress-strain curve, and is commonly called Young's modulus. MEMS devices are generally designed to operate at stresses in the linear region, so E is an Fable 19.1. Properties of materiats Thermal Ht Yield —-Young’s ‘Thermal Strength Modulus Density Conductivity Expansion ("Pay (10a) (vem) (Wiem°C)——(0™/°C) Diamond (single crystal) 53.0 10350 35 200 10 SiC (single crystal) 210 700.0 32 35 33 Si (single erystal) 70 190.0 23 16 23 ALO; 154 530.0 40 os 54 SisNe (single crystal) 140 385.0 3 02 08 Gold — 80.0 194 32 143 Nickel = 2100 90 09 128, Steel 42 2100 79 10 120 ‘Aluminum 02 70.0 27 24 25.0 rom Petersen (3).