ECE 449

Microdevices and Micromachining

Technology

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 Announcements
• HW 3 will be posted shortly, due Tuesday 4/13
• Better group communication
– Remember to test to allow the lab access, no later
than Thursday
– If you can’t make it, talk to your team members,
let Jiaxi know (no excuse needed)
– If you do not tell us, and cannot access the lab,
you will get zero for that lab

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Modeling of MEMS

Examples

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Stress, Strain, and Young’s Modulus

• Stress: Loading (compressive or tensile) generating resultant

forces (σ)
• Strain: Resulting deformation ( = L/L)
• Young's Modulus (E): E = σ/  (160 GPa for Silicon)
 = E
• Poissons ratio (): transverse contraction (negative transverse
strain)
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 Bending in Beams
• In general lateral extension of
cantilevers is not a good spring
• Instead, we use the cantilevers
bent by lateral forces

• Beam – a structural member designed to resist a force

laterally to its axis.
• Cantilever – beam that is fixed at one end and free at the
other

Recommend: Gere and Timoshenko, Mechanics of Materials

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 Bending of Beams
• Causes both tensile and
compressive stress
• Neutral axis with no stress

1 M
=−
 EI
• I = moment of inertia of the
cross section area
• Smallest radius at the tip of the
beam

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 I : Area moment of inertia
• Helps define resistance to bending as a
function of cross section.
I =  y dA
2
axis
y
dA

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 Bending of Beams
• Maximum stress
– at the surfaces, far from
the neutral axis
– For symmetric cross
section:

M
 1 = − 2 =
S c

I
where S=
c
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 Bending in Beams
• In general, we are
interested in tip
deflection
• Assuming small
deflection
– Often true especially in
MEMS
d d 2 y 1 M
= 2 = =−
dx dx  EI

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 Bending in Beams

• Method of superposition – simply add the deflection

later
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 Bending in Beams

• We can now calculate

the deflection of
beams
– Example calculations in
class

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 Cantilevers as springs
• Consider a cantilever
with force at the tip: b

3
FL 3EI
b = F = 3 b
3EI L

• Remember Hook’s law ? F = -k x

3EI
• Spring constant kcantilever = 3
L
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 Beams – free end vs. fixed-fixed
• In general, will encounter two
types of spring cantilevers:

– Free end:
3EI
kcantilever =
L3

– Fixed-fixed (guided):

12 EI
k fixed − fixed =
L3
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 Folded Springs
• A way to lower the stiffness of the spring
• Usually effectively fixed-fixed

12 EI
k folded = 3
nL

n=3

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 General Compound Springs

k1 k2

ktot = k1 + k 2
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 General Compound Springs

k1 k2

ktot = k1 + k 2
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 General Compound Springs

k1 k2

12 EI
ktot = k1 + k 2 k1 = k 2 = 3
L
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General Compound Springs

ktot = k1 + k 2
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 General Compound Springs

k2
k1

1 1 1
= +
ktot k1 k 2 19
 General Compound Springs

12 EI1
k1 = 3
k2 L1

k1 12 EI 2
k2 = 3
L2

1 1 1
= +
ktot k1 k 2 20
 Spring as sensors
• In MEMS, it is often interesting to know the force acted upon by
structures, actuators, etc.
• One way to solve this is to design a spring with known geometry and
material parameters, apply the force, and then measure the deflection in
a microscope.

12 EI
F= 3
b
nL

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Spring as sensors

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Etching Revisited

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 Photolithography
• Etch stage
– Etch the underlying layer (in this case SiO2)
– Desired structural pattern protected by photoresist
– Slight underetch if isotropic

Etchant (e.g. HF)

• In our project, Cr/Au
necessitates the use of two
etchants.
– Au Etch
– Cr Etch

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 Etching Revisited
• Removing area selectively patterned by Photoresist
• Important parameters:
– Etch rate: how fast is material etched ( nm/min, A/s etc.)
– Selectivity: how fast is the material etched vs. photoresist or etch-stop
material etch(x times, say 100x)
– Etch-stop: An underlying layer that causes the etch to stop (because
of high etch selectivity)
– Isotropic vs. Anisotropic: Etches equally in all directions or not.

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 Wet Etching
• Selected Wet Etchants:

• KOH Anisotropic Etch:

– High selectivity between
[100] and [111] planes

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 Etching Cr/Gold
• Etching the Cr/Au stack requires the use of two
etchants, first gold, then chrome.

Free radicals: an atom, molecule, or

• Gold Etchants: ion that has unpaired valence
– Two types: electrons or an open electron shell

Aqua Regia:
• Nitric acid and hydrochloric acid

• The free radical Cl combines with gold to form HAuCl4

Iodine-based:
• Contains Iodine to form gold Iodine

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 Etching Cr/Gold
• Cr Etchant:
– Typically are mixtures of perchloric acid and ceric
ammonium nitride

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 Dry (Plasma) Etching
• Plasma Assisted Etching:
– Plasma is used to remove material
– Direct mechanical impact: Ion Milling
• Zero selectivity
– Reactive species in plasma: Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)
• Different gaseous species etch different materials:

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Dry (Plasma) Etching

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 Reactive Ion Etching
• Generate plasma using an RF generator, most
commonly at 13.56 MHz
• Plasma: Ionized gas → positive ions and negative
electrons or ions
• Typical 1 – 10 mTorr (pump to vacuum first!)
– Moving electrons back and forth, but not heavy
ions
– Electrons impact the platen and the wafer, causing
a negative electric potential buildup between the
substrate and the plasma
– Ions attracted to the surface, impact the surface.
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Reactive Ion Etching

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Reactive Ion Etching

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 Reactive Ion Etching
• For example etching Silicon using CF4 gas.

• Degree of anisotropy will vary depending on the ratio

between the free radicals, and the ion impact etching site
• Three mechanisms
– Passivation based on plasma byproducts
– Ion-assisted etching
– Ion-milling 34
 Reactive Ion Etching

• Formation of a plasma by-

product causes passivation
– Can be physically etched at the
bottom by ion impactation

• Damage induced to the surface

enhances free radical etching

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 Reactive Ion Etching
• Sometimes requires a hard mask
– Either metals or SiO2 can be used

• Hard mask: The use of a normally structural material as

a mask for a process:
– Self-aligning process

SiO2 PR
Hard Mask

Etch KOH
Si in Etch
BHF
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 Deep Reactive Ion Etching
• Also called the Bosh process
• Enhances anisotropy by successive etching and passivation
steps.

1. Etching step: standard isotropic plasma etch, SF6 often

used for Silicon

2. Passivation step: Deposition of an inert passivation later,

C4F8 (Octafluorocyclobutane) often used with Silicon

• Lower pressure to enhance anisotropy (0.5 – 3 mTorr)

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Deep Reactive Ion Etching

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 Deep Reactive Ion Etching

– Etch can be diffusion limited, etch uniformity is

compromised.
• Depends on the feature size

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 Deep Reactive Ion Etching
• Resulting in high aspect ratio structures
– 1:30 not uncommon
– Can etch through an entire wafer
– Often used in SOI processes

AUC Egypt Qudos Technology

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 Photoresist Removal
• Photoresist removal stage
– Dissolve photoresist in a photoresist remover (e.g. acetone)

PR Stripper
• Can use RIE to remove PR
– Good to combine as a clean anyway
– Especially if we want to remove
underexposed or underdeveloped resist

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