Name: Roll Number

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, HAMIRPUR

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
End-semester Exam (Ist Semester 2019-20)
ECE-415A: MEMS and SENSOR DESIGN [Session: E ]
Max. Marks : 50 Date: 04/12/2019 Duration: 180 minutes

• This question paper contains four pages and six problems.

• Please read the question carefully before answering. Assume appropriate value of any param-
eter if required. ‘All the Best’

1. (a) What are MEMS ? List any three examples of commercial MEMS products. [2]

(b) What is the difference between a sensor and an actuator? List any five major points of
consideration for sensor design and development. [2]

(c) Explain the difference between surface micromachining and bulk micromachining for
MEMS microfabrication. [2]

(d) Sketch a microfabrication process flow for fabricating the microstructure ( a free polysili-
con cantilever beam anchored to a silicon substrate via an insulating silicon nitride layer)
as shown in Fig. 1. Briefly explain each step with suitable diagrams. [4]

Figure 1: A Polysilicon cantilever on a Silicon substrate via an insulating layer

2. (a) A MEMS system is simplified into a classic mass-spring-damper system as shown in Fig.
2 below. Write the governing differential equation of the system. Find the equivalent
electrical model for the system and find the resonant frequency. [4]
 Figure 2: Figure for Problem 2

(b) Explain the difference between normal stress and shear stress. A silicon beam is under a
longitudinal tensile stress. The force is 1mN and the cross section area is 20×1µm2 . The
Young’s modulus in the longitudinal direction is 120 GP a. Find the relative elongation
of the beam. What is the force necessary to fracture the beam if the fracture strain of
Silicon is 0.3 %. [4]

3. (a) A surface micromachined comb-drive accelerometer is shown in Fig. 3(a) below. The
effective spring constant of each cantilever is k. The comb fingers have overlapping length
of l and thickness of t. The width of the proof mass is w and the length of the proof
mass is L, the density of the material is ρ. The distance between the capacitive fingers
is x1 and x2 . Derive an expression for sensitivity of the accelerometer ( the change in
capacitance as a function of applied acceleration) assuming the case of x1 = x2 . The
externally applied acceleration is a. [4]

(b)

(a)

Figure 3: Figure for Problem 3

(b) Explain the pull-in effect in a parallel plate actuator. A parallel-plate capacitor is sus-
pended by two springs, each with length l = 5 µm and spring constant k = 0.01875 N/m,
 as shown in Fig. 3(b) below. The spacing between the two plates is x0 = 2 µm and the
area of the plate is 400 × 400 µm2 . Find the pull-in voltage. Calculate the amount of
vertical displacement when a voltage of 0.4 volts is applied. [4]

4. (a) Explain the piezoelectric effect and derive the expression for generated voltage on appli-
cation of a force. The piezoelectric material is having the dimensions 20 mm × 10 mm ×
10 mm , Young’s modulus 60 GP a and dielectric constant 2000. The applied force
is F = 10N and the piezoelectric coefficient is d31 = −190 × 10−12 C/N. Determine
the following: Strain, Electro-mechanical coupling coefficient, Piezoelectric capacitance,
Electric field and the generated Voltage. [4]

Figure 4: Figure for Problem 4(b)

(b) Consider an n-type cantilever of length L = 200 µm, width W = 20 µm and thickness
T = 5 µm is bent by a point load at its free end. Assume that a longitudinal p-type
piezoresistor is created as shown in Fig. 4. The dimensions for the piezoresistor are
l = 20 µm , w = 2 µm and the depth into the substrate z = 0.2 µm. The tip of the
cantilever is displaced due to point load by 1µm. Find the percentage change in the
resistance of the pizoresistor due to bending. Given E = 160 GP a and piezoresistive
coefficient πL = 71.8 × 10−11 Pa−1 . [4]

5. (a) Explain the working principle of a thermocouple in brief. An Infrared sensor is con-
structed by connecting N = 250 thermocouples in series. The Ti/Ni thermocouple is
fabricated by evaporation of thin films of the two metals on top of the membrane fabri-
cated by bulk micromachining of silicon as shown in Fig. 5(a). The output voltage at a
given radiation of 1W is 59 mV. Estimate the value of ∆T in the membrane. Given the
relative Seebeck coefficient of Ti and Ni is 14.8 × 10−6 V /K. [2+2]
 (b)
(a)

Figure 5: Figure for Problem 5

(b) A bimetallic thermal bimorph is made of two layers of different lengths as shown in Fig.
5(b). The layer on top is made of Material 2, whereas the layer on the bottom is made
of Material 1. The width of both layers is w1 = w2 = 20 µm. The length of the segment
between point A and B and between B and C is 100 µm. The Youngs modulus of material
1 and material 2 are 250 GP a and 70 GP a, respectively. The thickness of top layer and
bottom layer is 0.5µm and 1µm respectively. The thermal expansion coefficients of
material 1 and material 2 are 3ppm/degree C and 25ppm/degree C respectively. When
the beam is uniformly heated to 20 degree C above the room temperature, determine
the amount of vertical displacement at the free ends of the beam under this condition.
The radius of curvature r is given by [4]

1 6w1 w2 E1 E2 t1 t2 (t1 + t2 )(α2 − α1 )∆T

=
r (w1 E1 t1 ) + (w2 E2 t22 )2 + 2w1 w2 E1 E2 t1 t2 (2t21 + 3t1 t2 + 2t22 )
2 2

6. (a) What is Hall effect ? Explain using block diagram a basic Hall effect sensor for sensing
the magnetic field ? A Hall probe consists of a copper strip with n = 8.5 × 1028 electrons
per cubic meter, which is 2 cm wide and 0.10 cm thick. What will be the magnetic field
when I = 50A and Hall potential is (a) 4V and (b) 6 V. [4]

(b) Explain the basic principle of operation of magneto-diode. [2]

(c) What is shape memory effect? Give an example of a shape memory alloy. [2]