Thin Solid Films 340 (1999) 1±6

Letter

Fabrication of diamond microstructures for microelectromechanical

systems (MEMS) by a surface micromachining process
Rajeshuni Ramesham
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, M/S 125-152, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Received 30 July 1998; accepted 28 August 1998

Abstract
Selective polycrystalline diamond thin ®lm has been grown on a silicon dioxide/silicon substrate using high pressure microwave plasma-
assisted chemical vapor deposition from a gas mixture of methane and hydrogen at a substrate temperature of 9508C. A simple process ¯ow
has been developed to fabricate diamond microstructures such as diamond beams and cantilever beams using surface micromachining and
photolithography for the ®rst time. Scanning electron and optical microscopy has been used to characterize the surface micromachined
diamond microstructures. q 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Diamond; Microstructures; Beams; Bridges; Cantilever beams; Selective deposition

1. Introduction their process technology to fabricate the MEMS devices is

Growth of polycrystalline diamond ®lms using micro-
wave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD)
has received signi®cant interest in recent years for potential
microelectromechanical (MEMS) applications since it has
unique chemical and physical properties. Diamond growth
at pressures of 10±760 Torr has been achieved by several
groups [1±6]. It is necessary to ultrasonically damage the
silicon dioxide/silicon substrate to enhance the nucleation
density of diamond to achieve a pinhole-free continuous
layer of diamond [7]. In order to facilitate application of
diamond ®lms for MEMS, a surface micromachining tech-
nique has been developed for the ®rst time in this paper to
fabricate diamond microstructures such as bridges and
cantilever beams.
MEMS is a microelectronics fabrication approach to
miniaturize the electromechanical sensor devices and inte-
grate with the integrated circuit (IC) fabrication processes.
MEMS devices may have a signi®cant application in auto-
motive, displays, printers, ¯uid thrusters, analytical instru-
ments, communications, biomedical, and the aerospace
industry. Operation, reliability, sensitivity, and stability of
smaller, lighter, and cheaper MEMS devices is very critical
in any chosen application, particularly under extreme shock
and ambient temperature conditions. These MEMS devices
should be built in along with other semiconductor devices
using integrated semiconductor fabrication technologies.
New material such as silicon carbide and diamond and
necessary for high temperature applications where silicon
may not be applicable at temperatures greater than 1508C.
MEMS devices may have a use in monitoring a wide variety
of parameters such as temperature, accelerations, ¯ow rates,
pressures, vibrations, surface wear rates, ¯uid contaminants,
position sensing, etc.
A novel method was reported earlier to selectively
deposit polycrystalline CVD diamond on a silicon surface
and further demonstrated the fabrication of diamond micro-
structures such as cantilever beams (single-side supported),
bridges (double-side supported), and membranes (four-side
supported) using anisotropic chemical etching of solution
[8]. This technique involves the protection of the silicon
surface by using low pressure chemical vapor deposited
(LPCVD) silicon nitride from attacking the front side of
the silicon wafer by hot KOH chemical solutions. The etch-
ing rate of silicon is , 1 mm/min in KOH solution at 608C.
The method is relatively cumbersome such as cleaning the
wax and any other masking materials, which are used to
protect the silicon surface. The etching of silicon substrate
in KOH solution is anisotropic in nature. Salvadori et al. [9]
have reported the fabrication of free-standing diamond
membranes using an `O' ring instead of mask materials.
This approach certainly does not allow the de®ned dimen-
sions of the microstructures for sensor applications. Nogu-
chi et al. [10] have reported the fabrication of diamond
membranes using KOH solutions for X-ray lithography
masks. Deng and Ko [11] have shown that the diamond-

0040-6090/99/$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0040-609 0(98)01370-4
2 R. Ramesham / Thin Solid Films 340 (1999) 1±6

low z. In contrast with wet bulk micromachining only the

wafer thickness limits the feature height.
Microscale movable mechanical pin joints, springs,
gears, sliders, sealed cavities, and many other mechanical
and optical components have been fabricated using surface
micromachining of poly-silicon. Analog devices have
commercialized ADXL-50, a 50-g accelerometer that was
developed using surface micromachining for activating air-
bag deployment. Texas Instruments' Digital Micromirror
Device is also based on surface micromachining.
In this paper, we describe a process ¯ow combined with
conventional photolithography and our technique of selec-
tive deposition of diamond over silicon dioxide/silicon
substrate to fabricate diamond beams and cantilever
beams for microelectromechanical device applications
using a surface micromachining approach. This is only
possible since we can grow diamond over the silicon diox-
ide/silicon substrate. We have used an approach of selective
Fig. 1. X-ray microfocus photograph of the diamond membranes over a
silicon substrate using reactive ion etching and an aluminum mask.

like carbon (DLC) may be used as friction-reducing coating

materials for MEMS applications. Houston et al. [12] have
reported the use of diamond-like carbon ®lm to passivate the
silicon surfaces to reduce stiction in microelectromechani-
cal devices. Stiction is one of the most dif®cult problems
that are being experienced by the MEMS research commu-
nity. Aslam and Schulz [13] have reported the selective
diamond nucleation technology employing electroplated
chromium as a mold during diamond deposition for micro-
electromechanical applications. Ramesham et al. [14] have
reported a process ¯ow combined with conventional photo-
lithography and reactive ion etching of silicon to fabricate
diamond membranes for MEMS applications. Fig. 1 shows
the microfocus X-ray photograph of diamond membranes
fabricated using this process such as bulk micromachining
process. To our knowledge there are no reports pertinent to
surface micromachining of diamond to fabricate diamond
microstructures for possible MEMS applications.

1.1. Surface micromachining

Bulk micromachining means that three-dimensional

features are etched into the bulk of crystalline and non-crys-
talline materials. In contrast, surface micromachined
features are built up, layer by layer, on the surface of a
substrate such as a single crystal silicon substrate. Dry etch-
ing or selective deposition de®nes the surface features in the
x±y plane and wet etching releases them from the plane by
undercutting.
The nature of the deposition processes involved deter-
mined the very ¯at surface micromachined features. The Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the fabrication of diamond microstructures
low-pressure chemical vapor deposited polycrystalline (diamond beams and cantilever beams) for MEMS by selective diamond
diamond ®lms generally are only a few microns high with deposition and surface micromachining processes.
 R. Ramesham / Thin Solid Films 340 (1999) 1±6 3

Fig. 3. Scanning electron micrographs of (a) morphology of the diamond thin ®lm, (b) typical morphology of the backside of the fabricated diamond ®lm with
a cross-section and (c) backside of the diamond morphology with the diamond ®lm not completely covering the silicon substrate.

deposition of diamond over silicon dioxide/silicon substrate damaged by ultrasonic agitation for 15±60 min in metha-
to fabricate diamond microstructures for the ®rst time to nol containing diamond particles. The ultrasonically
achieve a possible enhancement in the yield of diamond damaged SiO2 was then photolithographically patterned
MEMS devices. and partially chemically etched in the opening of the
photoresist using a solution of buffered oxide etch
(BOE) in order to smooth the surface so that no diamond
2. Experimental growth would result. The photoresist was removed with a
commercial stripper solution, and the resist residue was
A commercially available microwave plasma-assisted
removed with a commercial stripper solution, and the
CVD system (ASTeX, Woburn, MA) was used in our
resist residue was removed with oxygen plasma (¯ow
experiments to grow polycrystalline diamond thin ®lms.
rate: 40 sccm, 300 W, 1±2 min).
The schematic diagram of the polycrystalline diamond
² The silicon dioxide was photolithographically patterned
growth system and growth process details are described in
and hard baked with the photoresist at 150±2008C for 1±2
earlier publications.[7,8,15±17].
h. The sample was ultrasonically agitated for 15±60 min
Starting substrates were mirror-smooth ®nished n- or p-
in methanol containing diamond particles and the photo-
type, (100) oriented single crystal silicon wafers with a
resist was stripped with commercial stripper solution.
resistivity of , 20 V cm. Cleaned silicon wafers were
The substrate was eventually cleaned in an oxygen
thermally oxidized to a thickness of 1±1.5 mm. Selectivity
plasma (¯ow rate: 40 sccm, 300 W, 1±2 min). This
of diamond thin ®lms on silicon dioxide was achieved by the
approach resulted in selectively damaged patterns of sili-
following two distinct processes described below.
con dioxide so as to yield diamond growth only there.
² The complete surface of the oxidized silicon wafer was
4 R. Ramesham / Thin Solid Films 340 (1999) 1±6
Fig. 4. Scanning electron micrographs of (a) top view of diamond bridge, (b) top view of diamond cantilever beam and (c) backside of diamond ®lm membrane
fabricated using anisotropic chemical etching of the silicon substrate.
The wafers were cleaned in acetone, methanol, deionized
(DI) water, and dried with nitrogen gas. A continuous ®lm
of polycrystalline diamond was usually obtained after 15±
20 h of growth. The growth rate of microwave plasma CVD
diamond is typically 1 mm/h. The typical deposition para-
meters were as follows: substrate temperature 9508C,
methane ¯ow rate 3.6 sccm, hydrogen ¯ow rate 500 sccm,
deposition pressure 45 Torr (5:985 £ 102 kPa), forward
power 1200 W, re¯ected power 34 W, and the percent of
methane in hydrogen 0.71%. Films grown under these
conditions have been analyzed earlier by Raman spectro-
scopy and X-ray diffraction and they were con®rmed to be
diamond [16]. The X-ray microfocus photograph shown in
Fig. 1 clearly demonstrates the transparency of diamond for
X-rays [18].
The silicon dioxide/silicon substrate was cleaned thor-
oughly with various solvents after the selective CVD
diamond growth over the silicon dioxide. The substrate
was baked at 175±2008C for 15±20 min and later spin coated
the adhesion promoter and subsequently spin coated thick
photoresist (AZ products). The substrate was soft baked for
30 min, patterned the photoresist using optical photolitho-
graphy, and ®nally developed the photoresist using devel-
oper solution. Finally, the patterned diamond/silicon
dioxide/silicon substrate was hard baked at 110±1208C for
15± 20 min and buffer oxide etched (NH4H 1 HF) the
silicon dioxide, which is called a surface micromachining
process, to yield diamond microstructures. Fig. 2 shows the
schematic diagram of the process ¯ow steps to fabricate the
diamond microstructures for MEMS by selective diamond
deposition over silicon dioxide/silicon substrate and surface
micromachining of the silicon dioxide process using BOE.
3. Results and discussion
Fig. 3a is a SEM micrograph showing a typical morphol-
ogy of as-grown diamond ®lm on a silicon substrate. The
diamond morphology was found to be very good as we have
reported earlier in the literature [7,8,15±17]. Our objective
in this paper is to propose a method and demonstrate how to
fabricate diamond microstructures using a surface microma-
chining process. Fig. 3b shows the scanning electron micro-
graph of the cross-section of diamond ®lm and its
 R. Ramesham / Thin Solid Films 340 (1999) 1±6
Fig. 5. Optical photographs of the diamond beams and diamond cantilever beams fabricated using selective diamond deposition and subsequent surface
micromachining processes.
morphology on the backside of diamond thin ®lm. It is clear
from Fig. 3b that the scratch pattern was replicated over the
back of the diamond thin ®lm. Scratch damage on the silicon
substrate was necessary to enhance the nucleation of
diamond. Fig. 3c shows the scanning electron micrograph
of the backside of the diamond ®lm morphology where the
diamond ®lm was not nucleated over the silicon substrate
uniformly. Discontinuities in the diamond ®lm are very
clear from Fig. 3c. This suggest an improvement in the
surface pretreatment to enhance the nucleation density of
diamond.
Fig. 4a±c shows the scanning electron micrographs of the
diamond microstructures such as beam, cantilever beam,
membranes, fabricated using selective diamond deposition
and bulk micromachining of silicon substrate. The technical
details to fabricate the diamond microstructures are
provided in an earlier publication [8]. This approach is
very good only when bulk micromachining is needed to
fabricate diamond microstructures. This is a very laborious
approach to fabricate microstructures for microsensors.
Black wax was used to mask the front or diamond side of
the silicon wafer and silicon nitride was used as a mask to
etch the silicon on the backside of the wafer to yield
diamond microstructures. Cleaning the black wax is a
very dif®cult task and will reduce the yield substantially.
The presence of small particles is very clear from Fig. 4a,b.
These microstructures were cleaned thoroughly. The
diamond membrane is very clean since this micrograph
was taken from the backside of the membrane. In principle,
it is possible to make diamond microstructures using bulk
5
micromachining of silicon. Therefore, we have proposed a
surface micromachining process to fabricate diamond
microstructures such as beams and cantilever beams and
not for membranes. This was only possible since we could
grow diamond selectively over the thermally grown silicon
dioxide/silicon substrate [7].
Fig. 5a,b shows the optical photographs of the selective
diamond grown over the silicon dioxide/silicon substrate
and diamond microstructures such as beams and cantilever
beams obtained via the surface micromachining process.
The diamond cantilever beam may be seen on the extreme
left of Fig. 5a. Fig. 5b is the magni®ed view of Fig. 5a in the
diamond beam area. The edge of the silicon dioxide after
BOE etching to release the diamond microstructures is clear
from Fig. 5b. We have only shown proof of the concept to
fabricate diamond microstructures for possible MEMS
applications using the surface micromachining process
and to our knowledge this is the ®rst report.
4. Summary
A process has been developed and demonstrated to fabri-
cate polycrystalline diamond beams and cantilever beams
on a silicon dioxide/silicon substrate using selective
diamond deposition and a surface micromahining process.
Buffered oxide (BOE) etch has been used to etch silicon
dioxide under the selectively deposited polycrystalline
diamond to yield diamond microstructures. This is the ®rst
report of fabricating the diamond microstructures using
6 R. Ramesham / Thin Solid Films 340 (1999) 1±6
selective diamond deposition and surface micromachining
processes. It has been a quite a routine process such as bulk
micromachining and surface micromachining of the silicon
for microelectromechanical device applications. This
approach has allowed the MEMS community to fabricate
sensor devices with high yields in shorter duration by using
RIE and buffered oxide etch processes. Therefore, we have
attempted to fabricate diamond beams and cantilever beams
using a surface micromachining process using a buffered
oxide etch process. The diamond ®lm was found to be
under compressive stress once the diamond ®lm is relieved
from the silicon dioxide/silicon substrate after BOE etching
of silicon dioxide. Application of these microstructures for
MEMS will be reported in the near future.
Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper was performed at the
Auburn University, sponsored by the Strategic Defense
Initiative Organization's of®ce of Innovative Science and
Technology (SDIO/TNI) through Navy contract no.
N60921-91-C-0078 with the Naval Surface Warfare Center.
The concept of surface micromachining, writing and publi-
cation of this paper were supported by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a
contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Admin-
istration NASA Code Q for the Of®ce of Safety and Mission
Assurance Program 323-79.
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