Tunneling Accelerometer

By, Adil Ahmed Microdevices & Micromachining Technology ECE 449 April 23, 2004
cc 2004 ECE 449 Adil Ahmed

Table of Contents
FUNDAMENTALS Conventional Accelerometer APPLICATIONS Accelerometers ACCELEROMETERS Capacitive Piezoelectric Piezoresistive Tunneling
STM

ADVANTAGE/DISADVANTAGE FABRICATION PROCESS Tunneling Accelerometer CONCLUSION

cc 2004 ECE 449 Adil Ahmed

Conventional Accelerometer:

HOW IT WORKS
Composed of the following: proof mass, spring and position detector Proof mass will move from rest to a new position, determined by balance between its mass times acceleration and spring Fr Acceleration traversed distance Force feedback approach: proof mass = constant Feedback position information to control electrodes

cc 2004

ECE 449

Adil Ahmed

Accelerometers:

APPLICATIONS
Aerospace
Cost Shuttle

Military
Weapon detonation time

Automotive Industry
Air-bags deployment
Suspended parallel beams that make up an electrical capacitor, altering the amount of stored electrical charge when subjected to an acceleration Signal is then elaborated by a microchip through an algorithm that evaluate if crash condition has been reached.
Key Advantages: low cost, extreme sensitiveness and reactivity related to the small dimensions, and the reliability due to the integration of the logic in the same device of the sensor. cc 2004 ECE 449 Adil Ahmed

Accelerometers:
Capacitive
Proof mass as one plate of capacitor and base as other Voltage changes when sensor accelerated
Applied acceleration

CAPACITIVE

cc 2004

ECE 449

Adil Ahmed

Accelerometers:

PIEZOELECTRIC
Piezoelectric
Electrical charge develop due to force W(mechanical input) W(electrical output)

cc 2004

ECE 449

Adil Ahmed

Accelerometers:

PIEZORESISTIVE
Piezoresistive
material's resistance value decreases when it is subjected to a compressive force and increases when a tensile force is applied. The piezoresistive element in the new accelerometer is formed by diffusing boron into silicon.

3-Axis Si Piezoresistive Accelerometer Acceleration applied along the X- or Y-axis causes the proof mass to incline (A), while acceleration along the Z-axis causes the mass to move in a downward direction (B)
Adil Ahmed

cc 2004

ECE 449

Accelerometers:

TUNNELING
Tunneling
Metal-coated tip is brought to within a nanometer of springsupported proof mass Current will tunnel across separation if small bias voltage is applied Applied acceleration causes a relative displacement of springsupported proof mass, and change in tunneling current
cc 2004 ECE 449 Adil Ahmed

ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES
ACCELEROMETER Capacitive Piezoelectric ADVANTAGES Higher sensitivities than PR Generate own signals, no need to be powered Not adversely affected by electromagnetic fields DISADVANTAGES Complex fabrication Limited operation of frequency range AC-response sensors Temperature sensitive (used in thermistors)

Piezoresistive

Tunneling

Sub-nano level of Potential for longsensing displacement term drift (extreme sensitivities) High ECE 449 Adil Ahmed cc 2004 resolution

TUNNELING Accelerometer:

STM
Tunneling Accelerometer uses a general principle of operation that is commonly used for scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) STM a bias voltage is applied between a sharp metal tip and a conducting sample quantum mechanical tunneling effects tunneling current is exponentially dependent on the separation between the tip the sample Tunneling material = Au excellent stability Prevents drift in the observed tunneling current over time platinum-iridium alloys
cc 2004 ECE 449 Adil Ahmed

TUNNELING Accelerometer:

FABRICATION PROCESS [I]

Nitride Si

1. Deposit Nitride Layer

Ti-Pt-Au Nitride

2. Tri-layer Metal
Deposition

Si

SiO 2 Nitride Ti-Pt-Au Si

3. Oxidation

cc 2004

ECE 449

Adil Ahmed

TUNNELING Accelerometer:

FABRICATION PROCESS [II]

SiO 2 Nitride Ti-Pt-Au Si

4. Oxide Cavity Etch

Si p ++ epi Si SiO 2 Nitride Ti-Pt-Au Si

5. CMP & Bond

p ++ epi Si SiO 2 Nitride

cc 2004

ECE 449

Ti-Pt-Au Si Adil Ahmed

6. Thin Down to Etchstop

TUNNELING Accelerometer:

FABRICATION PROCESS [III]

p ++ epi Si SiO 2 Nitride Ti-Pt-Au Si

7. Etch Tip Hole Through Epitaxial Layer

p ++ epi Si SiO 2 Nitride Ti-Pt-Au Si Au p ++ epi Si SiO 2 Nitride Ti-Pt-Au Si

8. Etch Tip Into Oxide

9. Metallize Tip & Contact

cc 2004

ECE 449

Adil Ahmed

TUNNELING Accelerometer:

FABRICATION PROCESS [IV]

Au p ++ epi Si SiO 2 Nitride Ti-Pt-Au Si Au p ++ epi Si SiO 2 Nitride Ti-Pt-Au Si

10. Define Cantilever

11. Oxide Etch & Release

cc 2004

ECE 449

Adil Ahmed

12. Device is ready to be Packaged

CONCLUSION
MEMS Accelerometers Capacitive, Piezoelectric, Piezoresistive, Tunneling Advantages/Disadvantages Tunneling Accelerometers Functionality Testing the device Resources Micromachined Transducers Sourcebook MEMS & Microsystems IEEE Journal of Micromechanics & Microengineering Fundamentals of Microfabrication www.analog.com www.stanford.edu
cc 2004 ECE 449 Adil Ahmed