In the name of ALLAH, the most Gracious, the Most Merciful

NSE – 847
Essentials of NEMS/MEMS
Course Instructor: Dr. Amna Safdar

Lecture#15-16 07/04/2020 1
 SMM

The typical process of SMM is

• first to deposit a layer,
• then pattern it,
• and finally chemically etch away unwanted
material.
• This set of steps can be repeated several
times in order to create complicated
structures, often with moving parts.

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 What is for Today?

Chapter 4: Creating structures—Micromachining

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Surface micromachining and Process flow part 1
 Identify the basic steps of a generic surface
micromachining process  Define the terms
 Identify the critical requirements needed to create a  Structural layer/material
MEMS using surface micromachining  Sacrificial layer/material,
 List common structural material/sacrificial  Release, and
material/etchant combinations used in surface  Die separation
micromachining  Develop a basic-level process flow for creating a simple
 Compare and contrast the relative merits of wet MEMS device
micromachining versus dry micromachining
 Explain the phenomenon of stiction, why it occurs, and
methods for avoiding it
 Describe the process of lift-off
 Explain what is meant by packaging and describe the
ways in which it present major challenges in MEMS

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Lecture#15-16 07/04/2020 5
 Review of surface micromachining process
Surface micromachining example –
Creating a cantilever
Deposit poly-Si (structural layer)

Deposit SiO2 (sacrificial layer)

Remove sacrificial
Etch part of layer (release)
the layer.
Often the most critical

Silicon wafer

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 History and processes The hinge design allows for out-of-plane motion of the
mirror.

• Surface micro-machining (SMM)

• Developed in the early 1980s at the
University of California at Berkeley
• Originally for polysilicon mechanical
structures
many SMM processes have developed their
• Other processes include
own sets of standards, allowing for efficient
o Sandia National Lab’sandSUMMIT
relatively inexpensive fabrication.
(Sandia’s Ultra-planar Multi-level
MEMS Technology)  five levels
possible with four poly layers
o MEMS CAP’s polyMUMPs (Multi User Photo of a PolyMUMPs surface-micromachined micro-mirror.
The hinge design allows for out-of-plane motion of the mirror.
MEMS Processes)  three layers of
poly with a layer of metal

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 Requirements of Material

For a given MEMS device each of these materials may

need to possess certain properties.
For example, the structural material may be
required to exhibit certain electrical and mechanical
properties such as being a good electrical conductor
while exhibiting low levels of mechanical stress.

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 Requirements and advantages
• Three to four different materials required in
addition to the substrate Rs >> Rm > Ri
o Sacrificial material (etch rate Rs)
o Structural mechanical material (etch rate Rm) Best results are obtained when
o Sometimes electrical isolators and/or structural materials are deposited with
insulation materials (etch rate Ri) good step coverage.
For example, buffered oxide etch (BOE) is used to remove
• Many SMM processes are compatible with CMOSSiO2 sacrificial layersChemical
whenvapor deposition
polysilicon (CVD)
is the structural
(complementary metal oxide silicon) technology material. In this case oxide is etchedorat a rate of about 100
used in microelectronics fabrication. nm/min while polysilicon is etched at a rate of only 0.04
Physical vapor deposition (PVD)
nm/min.
• Can more easily integrate with their control
electronics on the same chip
• Many SMM processes have developed their own If PVD
sets of standards Sputtering
or
efficient and inexpensive Evaporation
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 Common material/etchant combinations for surface μ-
machining

Structural material Sacrificial Material Etchant

Buffered oxide
Si/Polysilicon SiO2 etch (BOE) (HF-
NH4F ~ 1:5)
Al Photoresist Oxygen plasma
Phosphosilicate glass
Polyimide HF
(PSG)
Si3N4 Polysilicon XeF2

Typical structural/sacrificial material pairs along with the

associated etchants used for release

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 In surface micromachining methods best results are
obtained when structural materials are deposited with good
step coverage.
• Hence chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods are
preferred over PVD.
• When PVD methods are employed, sputtering is
preferred over evaporation.

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 Problems and issues with SMM
Wet etching
• 40 years of experience and data in the
semiconductor industry
• Ability to remove surface contaminants
Dry etching
• Better resolution than wet etching
• More directionality (High aspect ratios )

• Very high selectivities • Lower selectivities

• Usually isotropic  always involve • No undercutting
undercutting

Stiction
moisture

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 Stiction
Stiction = static + friction

Stiction = stick + friction

Ways to reduce stiction
An example of an unfavorable scaling • Coat surface with a thin hydrophobic layer in order to repel
liquid
• Dry surfaces using supercritical CO2. Removes fluids
surfacetension  L 1 without allowing surface tension to form.
 ~ 2 ~
restoritive force F L • Use “stand-offC bumps” on the underside of moving
L
parts. Pillars prop movable parts

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 Problems and issues

“Dimple” resulting from a

stand-off bump on the
underside of the cold arm

Polysilicon hotarm actuator created using surface μ-machining

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 Thermal actuators
Thermal actuators are mechanical systems that use the thermally
induced expansion and contraction of materials as a mechanism
for the creation of motion.
These devices are compliant structures, using elastic deformation
and mechanical constraints, that frequently are designed to
amplify the motion generated by thermal expansion or
contraction.
Temperature changes that result in thermal actuation are most
commonly provided by environmental changes or by Joule
heating from electrical current flow.
In the context of nanotechnology, thermal actuators refer to
microscale and nanoscale devices used to mechanically interact
with nanoscale structures, with motion generated by the
thermally induced expansion and contraction of materials.
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 Lift-off
Usually included as an “additive technique” by most authors
1. Photoresist is spun on a wafer and exposed to create
pattern
Resist has either straight side walls.
2. Material deposited through the photoresist mask using a
line-of-sight method, such as evaporation
Lift-off is most often used to deposit metals, especially those
that are hard to etch •using
Shadowing
plasmas takes place,
• Part of the photoresist sidewalls must be free of
deposited material
3. Photoresist stripped leaving behind only material
deposited through the opening.
(+) or (-)
C resist? 4. Unwanted material is lifted off.
Thickness of the deposited material must be thin compared to the resist thickness.
Most often used to deposit metals, especially those that are hard to etch using plasmas

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 Process integration a step-by-step set of instructions to fabricate a device

Not only must we be able to choose the materials and processes to fabricate
a MEMS, but we must also be able to put them in the correct order. A list of
all these necessary fabrication steps in sequential order is called a process
flow.

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 Typical process steps for surface micromachining
• modeling and simulation
• design a layout
• design a mask set

1 thin film formation (by

2 growth or deposition)
3
4
mask
This is where process
lithography
set flow becomes
C
complicated.
etching

die separation release

C
packaging

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 Die separation and packaging
• Must separate the individual devices
• Often saw or scribe the wafer

• Provide MEMS device with electrical

In fact some MEMS professionals claim that one receives
connections
MEMS devices for free and pays for their packaging.
• Protect MEMS from the environment
• Sometimes must also provide limited access
to environment (e.g., pressure sensor, inkjet
print heads)
die separation
• Packaging a difficult engineering problem
C packaging
• Largest cost of producing many (most)
packaging
devices
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 More on packaging

Die-level packaging Wafer-level packaging

packaging

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 More on packaging

Schematic of a packaged MEMS pressure detector

showing some of the requirements unique to MEMS

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 A surface micromachining example

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 Bulk μ-machined pressure sensor
Thin Si diaphragm changes shape
when pressure changes on one side
relative to the other.

Piezoresistors (implemented using p+

diffusion) sense the deformation.

Aluminum wires send resistive

electrical signal off the chip.

n+ diffusion is used as an etch stop for

the backside etch.

Oxide + Nitride provides wafer

protection for backside etch and
insulator between Al wires and wafer.
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 Process flow, pass 1
The first pass for determining the process flow is to decide which steps we need.
What are the basic steps necessary to build the
diaphragm?

• Etch backside
(Need to protect front of wafer during backside
etch)
• Add SiO2 and nitride layers
• Etch area above diaphragm to give diaphragm
ability to move easily
• Create an “etch stop” layer
o Reverse bias p-n junction will stop etch
o Start with p-type wafer
o Dope n-type layer or grow n-type epilayer
(layer produces with epitaxy)
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 Process flow, pass 1

The first pass for determining the process flow is to decide which steps we need.

What are the basic steps necessary to build the

sensor?

• Add diffusion to get piezoresistor

• Add wires so that piezoresistor can be connected
to external world
• Note that wires must be metal (Could use
diffusion if the distance is short)

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 Process flow, pass 1
The first pass for determining the process flow is to decide which steps we need.
What processing steps are required to produce entire
device?

• Deposit/pattern oxide and nitride

• Deposit/pattern Al for pads
• Backside etch
• n-type diffusion for etch stop
• p-type diffusion for resistors/wires

Each of these steps results in more steps in the detailed

process flow. But to begin, let’s determine the order in
which the steps must be placed.

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 Process flow, pass 1
Order of steps
What impacts our decisions on choosing an order?

1. Geometry
The oxide must be deposited before the nitride.

2. Temperature 3. Mechanical stress

High T processes must go first. High T If a following step can cause a device to break, you
processes can cause dopants to further diffuse may want to rethink the order if you can. This is why
and metals to melt and flow. release steps are often (though not always) done last.

Which processes are high T? 4. Interaction of chemicals

• Oxidation If an etch will attack another material, you must
• CVD (unless PECVD) either place is earlier in the process flow or protect
• Drive-in for diffusion the material.
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 Process flow, pass 1

Let’s choose an order Order of steps

1. n-type doping
2. Oxide: Can be done before doping of resistors if
oxide is thin. (Boron will implant through thin oxide
but not if oxide is thick!)
3. Dope resistors
4. Deposit nitride
Do we do backside etch or metallization next? Mask 1
A long backside etch will attack metal, and so we must do backside etch first.

Can we pattern nitride and oxide on both front and back at the
same time?
Yes, but etching both sides at the same time will etch all the way through the
silicon and you will not have a diaphragm! And so we do them at different
times because need to protect the front side during backside etch.
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 Process flow, pass 1
Order of steps
Let’s choose an order

5. Backside etch:
Before etching backside, we must cut the nitride and
SiO2 using Mask 2. Nitride and SiO2 on topside
protects topside of wafer.
6. Front side etch:
Etch nitride and oxide on topside of wafer
6
7. Metallization: Mask 3
How does the metal connect to the doping? Must cut
through the nitride and oxide first. Holes are called
“vias” or “contact cuts”. Must pattern oxide and
nitride on topside of wafer to create contact cuts..
7
8. Metallization: Add aluminum for vias and pads

Mask 2
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 Pass 2, Detailed process flow
A detailed process flow is the list of all steps necessary for the process people to implement the device. It
should include each of the following:
1. All steps in the proper order, including when to clean the wafer
2. Any chemicals necessary
3. Thicknesses of materials

• These choices come for modeling.

• The “process people” can turn chemicals and thicknesses into times necessary for etches,
depositions, etc.

4. Equipment necessary

It is the responsibility of the process flow person to think about which equipment is
necessary for each step. Why? Because if you need a high temperature deposition to follow a
metallization, you need a PECVD to do it or your metal will flow. The process flow person
knows the entire process and makes design decisions.
5. MASKS for photoligthography
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 Detailed process flow
Let’s revisit each of the basic steps that we came up with and see what is really involved. You will notice
that many of the steps actually turn into several steps when coming up with the detailed process flow. For
this exercise, we will ignore dimensions and chemicals. However, note that these are also important
components of the design flow.

1. n-type doping
a. No mask is required since it covers the entire wafer
b. This could be done by purchasing a wafer with an epilayer
or it requires 2 steps
i. implantation
ii. drive-in

2. Oxide
a. No mask is required since it covers the entire wafer.
b. Note that oxide will grow on both sides of the wafer. If you
do not want it on the backside of the wafer, you must
protect the backside of the wafer.
c. In this case, we do want oxide on both sides of the wafer.
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 Detailed process flow
Mask 1

3. Dope resistors and wires

a. Mask 1 – what does it look like? (Assume positive
resist.)
b. This step requires 4 total steps
i. Photolithography so that ion implantation only
goes where you want it to go
ii. Ion implantation
iii. Remove photoresist (Must be done before
drive-in. Why?)
iv. Drive-in
4. Deposit nitride Mask 1
a. No mask is required since it covers the entire wafer
b. Depending on the process, you may need to process
both sides of the wafer.
i. PVD often only deposits on one side of the
wafer.
ii. CVD often deposits on both sides of the
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 Detailed process flow Mask 2

5. Backside etch
a. Mask 2 – what does it look like? (Assume positive
resist.)
b. Must align Mask 2 with Mask 1 so that the resistors
are on the edge of the diaphragm.  Alignment
marks
c. This step requires 5 steps
i. Photolithography to determine where you want
the backside etch to start
ii. Etch nitride
iii. Etch SiO2
iv. Etch Si (Nitride and the SiO2 used as a “hard
mask” for the long Si etch.)
v. Remove photoresist

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Mask 33
2
 Detailed process flow Mask 3

6. Contact Cuts/Diaphragm cut

a. Mask 3 – what does it look like? (Assume positive
resist.)
b. Must align Mask 3 with Mask 1 so that wires
connect to resistors. Alignment marks
c. This step requires 3 total steps
i. Photolithography to determine where you
want material removed for the metal
ii. Etch the nitride and oxide Mask 3
iii. Remove the photoresist

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 Detailed process flow Mask 4

7. Metallization
a. Mask 4 – what does it look like? (Assume positive
resist.)
b. Must align Mask 4 with Mask 1 so that metal does
not etch away. Alignment marks
c. This step requires 4 total steps
i. Deposit the Aluminum
ii. Photolithography to determine which Al you
want to remove Mask 4
iii. Etch unwanted Al
iv. Remove the photoresist

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 Pass 3, Final process flow

These steps can be combined to create a final process flow.

One additional requirement in process flows is to include information about when to

clean the wafer. Some general guidelines are:

• Always start with an RCA clean and an HF dip to get rid of every possible
• All future cleans are usually RCA cleans without an HF dip. HF may etch away your
MEMS structures.
• Always strip photoresist and clean before high temperature processes.
• Always clean before depositing a new layer.

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 Final process flow
Final Process Flow for Bulk Micromachined Pressure Sensor
Starting material: 100mm (100) p-type silicon, 1×1015 cm-3 boron

1. Clean: Standard RCA clean with HF dip 12. Nitride: Deposit 50 nm silicon nitride using LPCVD
2. Oxide: Grow SiO2 on both sides of wafer 13. Photolithography: Mask 3 (backside photolithography for the
3. Photolithography: Mask 1 (alignment) C diaphragm)
Note: since the first patterned material is diffusion, which you cannot see, you 14. Etch: Remove nitride and oxide from back of wafer
must add alignment marks in the wafer or the first material you can see. If 15. Backside etch: Etch backside with KOH using electrochemical
the first patterned material is something you can see, you do not need a etch stop
separate alignment mark mask. Note: photoresist strip not necessary since returning to topside of wafer and
4. Etch: Etch alignment marks into SiO2. strip will be done later for topside processing.
5. Strip: Strip photoresist 16. Photolithography: Mask 4 (vias/diaphragm opening)
Note: since the next step is not a material deposition or a high temp step, a 17. Etch: Plasma etch nitride and oxide for vias and diaphragm
clean is not necessary. opening
6. Photolithography: Mask 2 (piezoresistors) 18. Strip: Strip photoresist
7. Implant: Ion implantation of boron to achieve 1×1019 cm-3 at 19. Clean: RCA cleans, no HF dip
surface after drive-in 20. Metal: Deposit 1 μm of aluminum
8. Strip: Strip photoresist 21. Photolithography: Mask 5 (aluminum) C
Note: following step is a high temp step, so must clean wafer before. 22. Etch: Remove Al with PAN etch
9. Clean: RCA cleans, no HF dip 23. Strip: Strip photoresist
10. Drive-in: Drive in diffusion to achieve 0.2 μm junction depth 24. Sinter: Anneal contacts at 425°C, 30 minutes
Note: following step is a material deposition, so must clean wafer before.
11. Clean: RCA cleans, no HF dip
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