University of Saskatchewan

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Introduction to Microsystems
ME 887

Assignment #1

Jaime Cardenas (11240384)

Winter term - 2019

QUESTION 1: Determine the angle between the orientation <100> to the (111)
plane in a single silicon crystal cell.

ANSWER: The angle formed between 𝑎⃗ = [1 0 0] and 𝑏⃗⃗ = [1 1 1] can be obtained

from the dot product:

𝑎⃑ . 𝑏⃗⃗ = |𝑎|. |𝑏|. 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃

[1 0 0] . [1 1 1] = √12 + 02 + 02 . √12 + 12 + 12 . 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃

1 = √3 . 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃
√3
𝜃 = cos −1 ( )
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𝜃 = 54.7°

QUESTION 2: Explain the significant difference among the following three systems:
o Micro system,
o Nano system,
o Macrosystem, and
o MESO system (you need to search the internet to get the answer for this)

ANSWER:

 Micro System: Microsystems consist in miniaturized devices designed and

developed for electrical and non-electrical applications, using a feature
size of around 100nm-100µm. Their fabrication is based on bottom up or top
down approach, by using a structure composed mechanical and
electrical, thermal and optical parts. Newton’s law can be applied on this
kind of systems. Microsystems application has a wide range including
Biomedical, security and optical application as part of diagnosis and
sensing devices, gas detection systems and digital light processing and
modulation. [1-4].

 Nano system: systems fabricated at nano scale with a feature size of

around 1nm-100nm, systems at this scale share some characteristics with
microsystems mainly related to their functionally because both can be
applied for sensing and actuation purposes. Nano systems’ structure is
composed by different electrical and mechanical parts. Their behavior can
de described by using quantum mechanics. Their fabrication is based on
top down approach. The application of nano systems is diverse and can

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 be found in Biomedical devices for tumor cells detection, drug dosage,
biomolecular sensor and carbon nanotubes. [1-4].

 Macro system: Those are considered the largest kind of systems, having a
minimum feature size of more than 1mm which allow to see their structure
by naked eye without the need of any kind of magnifying system, their
fabrication is based on bottom up approach, it can be performed by using
CNC machines or soldering processes. Due to their bigger dimensions, that
kind of systems can be used in switching devices, ventilation systems,
pumps in addition to some medical applications such as stethoscope ECG
devices or X-Ray machine [1-4].

 MESO system: mesosystems are interfaces that relate two different scales
either micro and macro systems or nano and micro systems, from this point
of view the feature size of meso systems is around 100µm-1mm, and follow
basic laws from classic mechanics as microsystems. Their fabrication is
mostly based on bottom up approach and these systems widely have
application in medical area such as Stents and Valves, camera lenses,
among others [1-4].

QUESTION 3: What is the main role of oxidation in micro-systems design and

fabrication, and why?

ANSWER:

Oxidation is one of the most important steps in the fabrication process of

microsystems. By this process a semi-conductive wafer is coated at the top part
in order to add a protective layer. A high-quality oxide can be developed on the
wafer surface by chemical process called thermal oxidation in which a high
temperature is applied (850˚C - 1150˚C) inside a tube furnace. The Oxidation
process also contribute by adding dopants to different which increase the charge
of these areas either positively or negatively, which in addition change the
conductivity of the wafer. The compressive stresses are created during the
oxidation process and because of that the protective barrier at its edges became
to be picked up. Finally, the use of an Oxidation process helps to remove the
photo-resistive material during the lithography etching process, since the use of a
thick oxide create an creates an insulating layer in all components and their
interconnections, which therefore ease the etching process.

QUESTION 4: In Figure 1 below, explain why the V-shape structure is produced,

and why there is an angle.

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 Figure 1. A (100) oriented wafer with mask featrures aligned to <110> directions. The etchant is KOH.

ANSWER:

KOH is an anisotropic etchant displays an etch rate selectivity 400 times higher in
(100) crystal directions than in (111) directions, since the etching rate is very great
for the exposed (100) planes as orientation (100) of wafer is put into KOH with (110)
direction, once the etchant reachs the faces with (111) normals the etch rate
becomes very slow. In addition, it is important to keep in my that the etchant is
working on diferent surfeces, which also means each surface has a diferent micro-
structure, for instance (111) plane has three bonds below the surface and one
dangled bond, which means atoms at this surface are more tightly bound in
comparison with atoms in (100), this added to the previously mentioned diferent
etching rate generate an angle equal to the angle between the orientation (100)
to the (111) plane that here is 54.7°. [7]

QUESTION 5: Explain the idea of mask less pattern transfer.

ANSWER:

The idea of Mask less pattern transfer consist on the structuring process on a
photosensitive material without the use of a physical mas, this is achieved by
focusing an ultra-short laser pulse that produces an ultra-high intensity. Basically,
this proccess consists in the transfer of a pattern by a wafer substrate coated by
a photoresistive material using a two-photon beam laser, This process uses a

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virtual mask instead of a physical mask, this virtual mask will describe the trajectory
that the laser must scan. This idea was developed in order to save some
manifacturing time. [8]

References

[1] Mozafari, M. Reza. Nanomaterials and nanosystems for biomedical

applications. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, 2007.
[2] Molefi, J. A., A. S. Luyt, and I. Krupa. "Comparison of the influence of Cu micro-
and nano-particles on the thermal properties of polyethylene/Cu
composites." Express Polymer Letters 3, no. 10 (2009): 639-49.
doi:10.3144/expresspolymlett.2009.80.
[3] Ridhawidhianto. "Comparison of Scale LM PG - Documents." Documents.mx.
February 05, 2016. Accessed February 18, 2017.
http://documents.mx/documents/comparison-of-scale-lm-pg.html.
[4] Chris Zhang. Class Website ME 887 “Microsystems” Mechanical Engineeering,
University of Saskatchewan. http://www.engr.usask.ca/classes/ME/887/
[5] Dohda, Kuniaki, Jun Ni, and Nico De Rooij. "Micro/Meso-scale
Manufacturing." Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering 126, no. 4
(2004): 641. doi:10.1115/1.1814125.
[6] Marc Madou, Fundamentals of Microfabriction. CRC Press, 1997.
[7] Senturia, S.D., Microsystem design, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001.
[8] Salam Gabran, R.R. Mansour. M.M.A. Salama. "Maskless pattern transfer using
355 nm laser." Journal of optics and Lasers in Engineering 50(5): 710–716. doi:
10.1016/j.optlaseng. 2011.11.020