UNIT-II

CONTROL AND MATERIALS OF MEMS

Controls of MEMS:

1. In Microsystems and smart systems, control techniques are employed for controlling displacements
(velocities or accelerations), pressure (force or stress), temperature, humidity, viscosity, etc. A control
system regulates the output variable by providing an actuating signal to the process under its supervision.
2.From a controls point of view, micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) can be driven in an open-loop
and closed-loop fashion.

3.Commonly, these devices are driven open-loop by applying simple input signals. If these input signals
become more complex by being derived from the system dynamics, we call such control techniques pre-
shaped open-loop driving.

3. The ultimate step for improving precision and speed of response is the introduction of feedback, e.g.
closed-loop control. Unlike macro mechanical systems, where the implementation of the feedback is
relatively simple, in the MEMS case the feedback design is quite problematic, due to the limited
availability of sensor data, the presence of sensor dynamics and noise, and the typically fast actuator
dynamics.

4. Furthermore, a performance comparison between open-loop and closed-loop control strategies has not
been properly explored for MEMS devices. The purpose here is to present experimental results obtained
using both open- and closed-loop strategies and to address the comparative issues of driving and control
for MEMS devices.

5. We point out advantages and disadvantages of the different control strategies, address the problems that
distinguish MEMS driving systems from their macro counterparts, and discuss criteria to choose a
suitable control driving strategy.

1. A control system regulates the output variable by providing an actuating signal to the process
under its supervision.
2. Since the 1980’s open-loop control schemes have dominated MEMS. This has led to much
advancement in the design, fabrication and modeling of MEMS actuators.
 3. Open-loop control’s main advantages are that it uses simpler driving electronics and it doesn’t
need sensing electronics. The importance of these two facts should not be underestimated. Real
estate area on a silicon wafer is at a premium.
4. In addition, the driving electronics and sensing electronics are at the same scale as the MEMS
devices themselves. Incorporating them into the design will change the behavior of the MEMS
device itself.
5. One of the key drawbacks of open-loop control is that it needs a fairly accurate model of the
system in order to shape the inputs. This makes it susceptible to parameter variations. Another
disadvantage is that it is not robust against un-measurable disturbances.
6. Feedback control can provide several advantages over open-loop control.
These advantages include the ability to:
1) Stabilize systems that are open-loop unstable.
2) Reduce the effects of un-measurable disturbances on the system response.
3) Reduce the effects of plant modeling errors and variations on the system response.
It should be noted that the use of feedback can also detract from these properties. Systems can be
destabilized, and the effects of disturbances and plant uncertainty can be amplified. The use of
feedback control also requires the use of sensors. The effect of plant disturbance cannot be
attenuated without a measurement of its effect upon the system output. There also exists a well-
known tradeoff between the response of a feedback system to plant disturbances and to sensor
noise. Even with these drawbacks, with the sophistication level of MEMS reaching an all time high,
the use of feedback control will be inevitable if stringent performance requirements have to be met.
Analog control of MEMS
1. A control system is a collection of components that is designed to drive a given system (plant) with a
given input to a desired output.
2. There are many readily available data acquisition boards and units that can be readily interfaced to a
PC, providing highly flexible analog and digital inputs and outputs, it is still quite probable that it will be
necessary to use additional analog-signal-conditioning circuitry to either drive a MEMS device or to
amplify and filter the signal received from a sensor.
3. A control system manages commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems
using control loops.
In the time domain, the analog system will be modeled using state space formulations. Here the
representation of the time variable is assumed to have infinite precision, i.e. it is continuous. Therefore
the equations of the state space model are (surprise) differential equations. But in the digital controller,
the state space model would represent the difference equations owing to the fact that in digital systems,
time is not continuous - it is quantized, sampled etc.

There are several types of linear control systems with different capabilities.

Proportional control
PID control
The field of control theory can be divided into two branches:

 Linear control theory – This applies to systems made of devices which obey the superposition
principle, which means roughly that the output is proportional to the input. They are governed
by linear differential equations. A major subclass is systems which in addition have parameters which
do not change with time, called linear time invariant(LTI) systems. These systems are amenable to
powerful frequency domain mathematical techniques of great generality, such as the Laplace
transform, Fourier transform, Z transform, Bode plot, root locus, and Nyquist stability criterion.
These lead to a description of the system using terms like bandwidth, frequency response, eigen
values, gain, resonant frequencies, zeros and poles, which give solutions for system response and
design techniques for most systems of interest.
 Nonlinear control theory – This covers a wider class of systems that do not obey the
superposition principle, and applies to more real-world systems because all real control systems are
nonlinear. These systems are often governed by nonlinear differential equations. The few
mathematical techniques which have been developed to handle them are more difficult and much less
general, often applying only to narrow categories of systems. These include limit
cycletheory, Poincaré maps, Lyapunov stability theorem, and describing functions. Nonlinear
systems are often analyzed using numerical methods on computers, for example by simulating their
operation using a simulation language. If only solutions near a stable point are of interest, nonlinear
systems can often be linearized by approximating them by a linear system using perturbation theory,
and linear techniques can be used.

Sliding mode control of MEMS

In control systems, sliding mode control (SMC) is a nonlinear control method that alters the dynamics of
a nonlinear system by application of a discontinuous control signal (or more rigorously, a set-valued
control signal) that forces the system to "slide" along a cross-section of the system's normal behavior.
The state-feedback control law is not a continuous function of time. Instead, it can switch from one
continuous structure to another based on the current position in the state space. Hence, sliding mode
control is a variable structure control method. The multiple control structures are designed so that
trajectories always move toward an adjacent region with a different control structure, and so the ultimate
trajectory will not exist entirely within one control structure. Instead, it will slide along the boundaries of
the control structures. The motion of the system as it slides along these boundaries is called a  sliding
mode and the geometrical locus consisting of the boundaries is called the sliding (hyper)surface. In the
context of modern control theory, any variable structure system, like a system under SMC, may be
viewed as a special case of a hybrid dynamical system as the system both flows through a continuous
state space but also moves through different discrete control modes.
Sliding mode control is used  in the speed control of electric drive systems. It provides attractive features
such as fast dynamic response, insensitivity to variations in plant parameters and external disturbance.
In practical applications of sliding mode control, engineers may experience undesirable phenomenon of
oscillations having finite frequency and amplitude, which is known as 'chattering'. At the first stage of sliding mode
control theory development the chattering was the main obstacle for its implementation.
SMS systems are designed to drive the system states onto a particular surface in the state space,
named sliding surface. ... Hence the sliding mode control is a two part controller design. The first part involves the
design of a sliding surface so that thesliding motion satisfies design specifications.

Digital control of MEMS

Control systems using various forms of digital devices as the controller may be classified as digital
control systems. The controller used in these may range from a microcontroller to an ASIC to a personal
computer.
These digital systems operate on discrete signals that are samples of the sensed signal, rather than on
continuous signals. Since most parameters in a plant operating continuously would vary continuously,
DACs and ADCs are required in the implementation of such digital controllers. However, several
additional blocks, as shown in Figure 7.34, are required to replace a continuous controller by a digital
controller.
In Figure 7.34, the clock connected to the DACs and ADCs sends out pulses at a periodic interval T,
which in turn makes these converters send their output signals to ensure that the controller output is
synchronized with the feedback from the plant. In this digital system design, a discrete function Hz(z)
must be found so that, for a piecewise constant input to the continuous system H(s), the sampled output of
the continuous system equals the discrete output. This is illustrated in Figure 7.35. Suppose the signal
u(k) represents a sample of the input signal u(t). These samples u(k) are held constant over the interval kT
to (kþ1)T to produce a continuous-looking signal u_ðtÞ. The output of the plant y(k) will be the same
piecewise signal as if the continuous u(t) had gone through H(s) to produce the continuous output y(t).
In such discrete systems, z-transforms replace the Laplace transforms used in continuous control systems.
Another difference is quantization error due to their finite precision. It may be noted that special care is
required in setting the error coefficients to account for the lag effects of the sample-and-hold circuits. Yet
digital controllers are often preferred as they are inexpensive, less prone to noise effects, and are easy to
scale or reconfigure. A stable analog controller may become unstable when converted as a digital system,
especially if large sampling intervals are used. Furthermore, aliasing while sampling can modify the
choice of values for various cut-off parameters. Hence the sampling rate is crucial for the stability of a
digital control system and fast sampling may be required. Incidentally, approaches used to determine
stability in the Laplace domain such as Bode and Nyquist criteria apply to z domain transfer functions as
well.
When a large number of identical systems is required, it is economical to use parts programmed and
tested at the time of manufacture. In such applications microcontrollers are preferred. On the other hand,
the field-programmable memory available on many microcontrollers allows easy revision and even
updates in the field. Hence, programmable memory reduces product lead time in some applications.
Microcontroller

As mentioned earlier, one of the approaches to implement digital control is to use a microcontroller. A
microcontroller-based design would be appropriate in large-volume production scenarios and where the
end user does not need to alter the control. As is evident from the block schematic in Figure 7.36, a
microcontroller is a small computer on a single chip consisting of CPU, clock, timers, I/O ports, and
memory. In general, microcontrollers are simple computers with low power consumption, usually
operating at low clock speeds, typically designed for dedicated but low-computation-intensity
applications. Such a level of integration helps in drastically reducing the number of chips and printed
circuit board space. Applications include control of implantable medical devices and airbag deployment
systems in automobiles.

Programmable Logic Controller

Another variant of the digital controller is a programmable logic controller (PLC) used in automation of a plant or a
smart system operating at severe environmental and/or process conditions. Like the microcontroller, the PLC is also
designed for multiple input and output arrangements, but with extended operating temperature ranges and immunity
to electrical noise. Unlike microcontrollers that operate at 5V or less, PLCs typically have a supply voltage
requirement of 24 V. Control through them is typically simple and linear and does not usually depend on history of
variation in the control variable. PLCs usually have logic for single-variable feedback control loop with a
roportional, integral derivative or PID controller.

Materials for MEMS:

Substrate
1. Planar substrates of choice include single-crystal silicon, single-crystal quartz, glass, and fused
(amorphous) quartz. Some attention is also now being given to gallium arsenide, since a variety of
optoelectronic devices can be fabricated with that material. All are available in wafer form in sizes that
are compatible with standard microelectronics processing equipment.
2.As the microelectronics industry moves toward larger and larger wafer sizes [200 mm (8”) diameter
wafers are now standard, with 300 mm (12”) diameter coming next], there is pressure on MEMS
fabricators to shift to increasing wafer sizes to maintain compatibility with production equipment.
However, MEMS fabrication obeys different economics than standard microelectronics. It is not
uncommon for a few 25-wafer runs of 100 mm (4”) wafers to supply a full year’s production of a single
product. Therefore, compared to conventional microelectronics, there is less pressure to go to larger wafer
sizes. In fact, careful planning and a well-designed product mix are required to make costeffective use of
the production capacity of MEMS fabrication facilities, even at the smaller wafer sizes.
Silicon as an element exists with three different microstructures: crystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous.
3.Polycrystalline, or simply “polysilicon,” and amorphous silicon are usually deposited as thin films with
typical thicknesses below 5 μm. Crystalline silicon substrates are commercially available as circular wafers
with 100-mm (4-in) and 150-mm (6-in) diameters. Larger-diameter (200-mm and 300-mm) wafers, used by the
integrated circuit industry, are currently economically unjustified for MEMS. Standard 100-mm wafers are
nominally 525 μm thick, and 150-mm wafers are typically 650 μm thick.
Wafers
The conventional base, or substrate, within which microelectronic devices and ICs are fabricated, is the
silicon wafer.
Single-crystal-silicon wafers are classified by the orientation of the surface relative to the crystalline axes.
The nomenclature is based on the Miller indices, which are described in detail in the references [3, 7, 8].
Silicon is a cubic material, constructed from two interpenetrating face-centered cubic lattices of atoms.
Figure 3.1 illustrates the simpler case of a unit cell of a simple cubic lattice having identical atoms at the
corners of a cube. This unit cell forms the repeat unit for a complete lattice. Relative to the axes formed
by the cube edges, a particular direction is denoted with square brackets, such as [100], and the
corresponding plane perpendicular to this direction is denoted with parentheses as (100). Because of the
cubic symmetry, there are six directions that are symmetrically equivalent to [100]. The complete set of
equivalent directions is written with angle brackets as <100>, and the corresponding set of six
symmetrically equivalent planes normal to these six directions is written with curly brackets as {100}.
Crystals that are oriented with one of the {100} planes as its surface are called (100) wafers. If a face
diagonal of the unit cell is normal to the wafer surface, it is called a (110) wafer. And if a cube diagonal is
normal to the wafer surface, it is called a (111) wafer. MOS technologies conventionally use (100) wafers
because of the low defect density that can be achieved at the interface between silicon and silicon dioxide.
Bipolar-transistor technologies historically used
(111) wafers, but are now also fabricated with (100) wafers. (110) wafers are a specialty orientation used
for some selective-etching applications.

The complete silicon unit cell is shown in Fig.above Each atom is identical, but shading is used to clarify
their positions. Every atom is tetrahedrally bonded to four neighbors. The illustration on the left shows an
interior atom bound to one corner atom and three face-center atoms, but in fact, since every atom is
identical, every atom has the exact same bonding structure and local environment. While it is difficult to
see, even with a full three-dimensional crystal model in hand, a (111) oriented surface has the highest
density of atoms per unit area. Further, each atom in a (111) surface is tetrahedrally bonded to three atoms
beneath the surface, leaving only one bond potentially “dangling” at the free surface. In contrast, atoms
on (110) or (100) surfaces are tetrahedrally bonded to only two atoms beneath the surface, and have two
potential “dangling” bonds. The fact that silicon can be etched anisotropically by certain etchants is
attributed, in part, to this difference in bonding of the atoms on the different crystal surfaces.
Most silicon crystals are grown from a highly purified melt using the Czochralski method, abbreviated
CZ (see [3, 7] for details). A small seed crystal with a preselected orientation is inserted into a heated
crucible containing a highly purified melt. The seed is gradually pulled out of the melt while the crucible
containing the melt is rotated. The melt temperature and pulling speed are controlled to balance crystal
growth rate with pulling rate. An alternative method is called float zone, abbreviated FZ. Starting with a
polysilicon rod, a radio-frequency heater creates a local melted zone that is dragged from one end of the
rod to the other. To start the growth, a seed crystal can be used at one end of the rod assembly.
The quality of silicon crystals is specified in terms of their chemical impurities and structural
imperfections such as point defects (atoms missing or out of place) and dislocations (places where the
crystal planes don’t fit perfectly together because of either extra planes of atoms or imperfect stacking of
the planes into a screw-like assembly). CZ wafers typically have higher amounts of residual chemical
impurities, such as carbon, oxygen and heavy metals, compared to FZ wafers because the molten zone
tends to carry impurities with it as it sweeps from one end of the rod to the other. Oxygen as an impurity
in CZ wafers has some benefit in certain microelectronic device fabrication sequences, as the presence of
oxygen promotes the migration of point defects during high-temperature process steps away from the
surfaces where devices are fabricated. On the other hand, the higher purity FZ wafers may be required in
devices where heavy-metal contamination must be minimized. Dislocation density is also affected by
high-temperature processing. However, crystals can now be grown virtually free of the most disruptive
forms of dislocations. Some specifications for a high-quality silicon wafer are shown in Table 3.1. Wafer
bow refers to the amount of out-of-plane bending of the wafer, while wafer taper refers to thickness
variation across a wafer diameter. Wafers are supplied in standard diameters and thicknesses, and are
polished to mirror smoothness on either one or both sides. Nonstandard thicknesses can also be
purchased, although at premium prices.

Wafers are also characterized by their doping level, n-type or p-type. Doping,discussed further in Section
3.2.5, refers to the process by which impurities are intentionally added to modify the electrical
conductivity and conductivity type. In the case of CZ crystal growth, dopants are added to the starting
melt, and become incorporated uniformly as the crystal grows. The implications of doping on electrical
conductivity and electronic device behavior are discussed. For the moment, it is sufficient to note that
introduction of Group III atoms such as boron produces p-type material, while introduction of Group V
atoms such as phosphorus and arsenic produce n-type material. A pattern of flat edges (or notches for 200
mm wafers and above) is ground into the wafer that encodes the wafer orientation and type, as shown in
Fig.above. The relative orientation of the secondary wafer flat to the larger primary wafer flat provides
the identification.
Silicon
Silicon is one of very few materials that is economically manufactured in single crystal substrates. This
crystalline nature provides significant electrical and mechanical advantages. The precise modulation of
silicon’s electrical conductivity using impurity doping lies at the very core of the operation of electronic
semiconductor devices. Mechanically, silicon is an elastic and robust material whose characteristics have been
very well studied and documented (see Table 2.1). The tremendous wealth of information accumulated on
silicon and its compounds over the last few decades has made it possible to innovate and explore new areas of
application extending beyond the manufacturing of electronic integrated circuits. It becomes evident that
silicon is a suitable material platform on which electronic, mechanical, thermal, optical, and even fluid-flow
functions can be integrated.

Ultrapure, electronic-grade silicon wafers available for the integrated circuit industry are common today in
MEMS. The relatively low cost of these substrates (approximately $10 for a 100-mm-diameter wafer and $15
for a 150-mm wafer) makes them attractive for the fabrication of micromechanical components and systems.
Silicon as an element exists with three different microstructures: crystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous.
Polycrystalline, or simply “polysilicon,” and amorphous silicon are usually deposited as thin films with typical
thicknesses below 5 μm. Crystalline silicon substrates are commercially available as circular wafers with
100-mm (4-in) and 150-mm (6-in) diameters. Larger-diameter (200-mm and 300-mm) wafers, used by the
integrated circuit industry, are currently economically unjustified for MEMS. Standard 100-mm wafers are
nominally 525 μm thick, and 150-mm wafers are typically 650 μm thick. Double-side-polished wafers
commonly used for micromachining on both sides of the wafer are approximately 100 μm thinner than
standard thickness substrates. Visualization of crystallographic planes is key to understanding the dependence
of material properties on crystal orientation and the effects of plane-selective etch solutions (see Figure 2.1).
Silicon has a diamond-cubic crystal structure that can be discussed as if it were simple cubic. In other words,
the primitive unit—the smallest repeating block—of the crystal lattice resembles a cube. The three major
coordinate axes of the cube are called the principal axes. Specific directions and planes within the crystal are
designated in reference to the principal axes using Miller indices [1], a special notation from materials science
that, in cubic crystals, includes three integers with different urrounding “punctuation.” Directions are specified
by brackets; for example [100], which is a vector in the +x direction, referred to the three principal axes (x,y,z)
of the cube. No commas are used between the numbers, and negative numbers have a bar over the number
rather than a minus sign. Groups of directions with equivalent properties are specified with carets (e.g., <100>,
which covers the [100]=+x,[100]=−x,[010]=+y,[010]=−y,[001]=+z, and [001]=−z directions). Parentheses
specify a plane that is perpendicular to a direction with the same numbers; for example, (111) is a plane
perpendicular to the [111] vector (a diagonal vector through the farthest corner of the unit cube). Braces
specify all equivalent planes; for example, {111} represents the four equivalent crystallographic planes (111),
(111), (111), and (111).
Silicon is a very good thermal conductor with a thermal conductivity greater than that of many metals and
approximately 100 times larger than that of glass. In complex integrated systems, the silicon substrate can be
used as an efficient heat sink. This feature will be revisited when we review thermal-based sensors and
actuators. Unfortunately, silicon is not an active optical material—silicon-based lasers do not exist. Because of
the particular interactions between the crystal atoms and the conduction electrons, silicon is effective only in
detecting light; emission of light is very difficult to achieve. At infrared wavelengths above 1.1 μm, silicon is
transparent, but at wavelengths shorter than 0.4 μm (in the blue and ultraviolet portions of the spectrum), it
reflects over 60% of the incident light (see Figure 2.3). The attenuation depth of light in silicon (the distance
light travels before the intensity drops to 36% of its initial value) is 2.7 μm at 633 nm (red) and 0.2 μm at 436
nm (blue-violet). The slight attenuation of red light relative to other colors is what gives thin silicon
membranes their translucent reddish tint.
Silicon is also well known to retain its mechanical integrity at temperatures up to about 700°C [4]. At higher
temperatures, silicon starts to soften and plastic deformation can occur under load. While the mechanical and
thermal properties of polysilicon are similar to those of single crystal silicon, polysilicon experiences slow
stress annealing effects at temperatures above 250°C, making its operation at elevated temperatures subject to
long-term instabilities, drift, and hysteresis effects.
Some properties of silicon at and above room temperature are given in Table 2.2. The surface of silicon
oxidizes immediately upon exposure to the oxygen in air (referred to as native oxide). The oxide thickness self-
limits at a few nanometers at room temperature. As silicon dioxide is very inert, it acts as a protective layer
that prevents chemical reactions with the underlying silicon.
Silicon-Compatible Material System
The silicon-compatible material system encompasses, in addition to silicon itself, a host of materials
commonly used in the semiconductor integrated circuit industry. Normally deposited as thin films, they
include silicon oxides, silicon nitrides, and silicon carbides, metals such as aluminum, titanium, tungsten,
and copper, and polymers such as photoresist and polyimide.
It is often argued that silicon is such a successful material because it has a stable oxide that is electrically
insulating—unlike germanium, whose oxide is soluble in water, or gallium arsenide, whose oxide cannot be
grown appreciably. Various forms of silicon oxides (SiO 2, SiOx, silicate glass) are widely used in
micromachining due to their excellent electrical and thermal insulating properties. They are also used as
sacrificial layers in surface micromachining processes because they can be preferentially etched in
hydrofluoric acid (HF) with high selectivity to silicon. Silicon dioxide (SiO 2) is thermally grown by oxidizing
silicon at temperatures above 800°C, whereas the other forms of oxides and glass are deposited by chemical
vapor deposition, sputtering, or even spin-on (the various deposition methods will be described in the next
chapter). Silicon oxides and glass layers are known to soften and flow when subjected to temperatures above
700°C. A drawback of silicon oxides is their relatively large intrinsic stresses, which are difficult to control.
This has limited their use as materials for large suspended beams or membranes. Silicon nitride (Si xNy) is also
a widely used insulating thin film and is effective as a barrier against mobile ion diffusion—in particular,
sodium and potassium ions found in biological environments. Its Young’s modulus is higher than that of
silicon and its intrinsic stress can be controlled by the specifics of the deposition process. Silicon nitride is an
effective masking material in many alkaline etch solutions.
Silicon compound

Silicon is one of very few materials that is economically manufactured in single crystal substrates. This
crystalline nature provides significant electrical and mechanical advantages. The precise modulation of
silicon’s electrical conductivity using impurity doping lies at the very core of the operation of electronic
semiconductor devices. Mechanically, silicon is an elastic and robust material whose characteristics have been
very well studied and documented.
Silicon is one of very few materials that is economically manufactured in single Ultrapure, electronic-grade
silicon wafers available for the integrated circuit industry are common today in MEMS. The relatively low cost
of these substrates crystal substrates. This crystalline nature provides significant electrical and mechanical
advantages. The precise modulation of silicon’s electrical conductivity using impurity doping lies at the
very core of the operation of electronic semiconductor devices. Mechanically, silicon is an elastic and
robust material whose characteristics have been very well studied and documented makes them attractive for
the fabrication of micromechanical components and systems.
Silicon as an element exists with three different microstructures: crystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous.
Polycrystalline, or simply “polysilicon,” and amorphous silicon are usually deposited as thin films with typical
thicknesses below 5 μm. Crystalline silicon substrates are commercially available as circular wafers with 100-
mm (4-in) and 150-mm (6-in) diameters. Larger-diameter (200-mm and 300-mm) wafers, used by the
integrated circuit industry, are currently economically unjustified for MEMS. Standard 100-mm wafers
are nominally 525 μm thick, and 150-mm wafers are typically 650 μm thick. Double-side-polished wafers
commonly used for micromachining on both sides of the wafer are approximately 100 μm thinner than
standard thickness substrates. Visualization of crystallographic planes is key to understanding the
dependence of material properties on crystal orientation and the effects of plane-selective etch solutions.
Silicon has a diamond-cubic crystal structure that can be Crystalline silicon is a hard and brittle material
deforming elastically until it reaches its yield strength, at which point it breaks. Its tensile yield strength is
7 GPa, which is equivalent to a 700-kg (1,500-lb) weight suspended from a 1-mm2 area. Its Young’s
modulus is dependent on crystal orientation, being 169 GPa in <110> directions and 130 GPa in <100>
directions—near that of steel. The dependence of the mechanical properties on crystal orientation is
reflected in the way a silicon wafer
preferentially cleaves along crystal planes1. While large silicon wafers tend to be fragile, individual dice
with dimensions on the order of 1 cm × 1 cm or less are rugged and can sustain relatively harsh handling
conditions. As a direct consequence of being a single crystal, mechanical properties are uniform across
wafer lots, and wafers are free of intrinsic stresses. This helps to minimize the number of design iterations
for silicon transducers that rely on stable mechanical properties for their operation. Bulk mechanical
properties of crystalline silicon are largely independent
Silicon piezoresisters

The piezoresistive effect is a change in the electrical 1.resistivity of

semiconductor or metal when mechanical strain is applied. In contrast to the piezoelectric effect, the
piezoresistive effect causes a change only in electrical resistance, not in electric potential.
2.In conducting and semi-conducting materials, changes in inter-atomic spacing resulting from strain
affect the bandgaps, making it easier (or harder depending on the material and strain) for electrons to be
raised into the conduction band. This results in a change in resistivity of the material. Within a certain
range of strain this relationship is linear, so that the piezoresistive coefficient
Advantages of Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors
Micromachined piezoresistive pressure sensors have:
1. Compact size, making them suitable for a variety of applications, including those that use an array of
such sensors to measure pressure distribution.
2. Good thermal stability, since thermal compensation can be built into the sensor.
3. Good market potential due to low cost.

Typical Applications
Typical applications of piezoresistive pressure sensors include:
1. Direct pressure-sensing applications: such as weather instrumentation, combustion pressure in an
engine cylinder or a gas turbine, appliances such as washing machines, etc

Piezoresistivity in metals
Usually the resistance change in metals is mostly due to the change of geometry resulting from applied
mechanical stress. However, even though the piezoresistive effect is small in those cases it is often not
negligible. In cases where it is, it can be calculated using the simple resistance equation derived
from Ohm's law;

Some metals display piezoresistivity that is much larger than the resistance change due to geometry. In
platinum alloys, for instance, piezoresistivity is more than a factor of two larger, combining with the
geometry effects to give a strain gauge sensitivity of up to more than three times as large than due to
geometry effects alone. Pure nickel's piezoresistivity is -13 times larger, completely dwarfing and even
reversing the sign of the geometry-induced resistance change.

Piezoresistive effect in bulk semiconductors

(Bulk semiconductors contain quasi continuum bands. The charge
transport properties are generally described by the semi classical
description. In other words, the charge carries move freely in the quasi
continuum bands without any confinement effects.)
The piezoresistive effect of semiconductor materials can be several orders of magnitudes larger than the
geometrical effect and is present in materials like germanium, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon,
silicon carbide, and single crystal silicon. Hence, semiconductor strain gauges with a very high coefficient
of sensitivity can be built. For precision measurements they are more difficult to handle than metal strain
gauges, because semiconductor strain gauges are generally sensitive to environmental conditions (esp.
temperature).

For silicon, gauge factors can be two orders of magnitudes larger than those observed in most metals
(Smith 1954). The resistance of n-conducting silicon mainly changes due to a shift of the three different
conducting valley pairs. The shifting causes a redistribution of the carriers between valleys with different
mobilities. This results in varying mobilities dependent on the direction of current flow. A minor effect is
due to the effective mass change related to changing shapes of the valleys. In p-conducting silicon the
phenomena are more complex and also result in mass changes and hole transfer.

Piezoresistive silicon devices

The piezoresistive effect of semiconductors has been used for sensor devices employing all kinds of
semiconductor materials such as germanium, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, and single crystal
silicon. Since silicon is today the material of choice for integrated digital and analog circuits the use of
piezoresistive silicon devices has been of great interest. It enables the easy integration of stress sensors
with Bipolar and CMOS circuits.

This has enabled a wide range of products using the piezoresistive effect. Many commercial devices such
as pressure sensors and acceleration sensors employ the piezoresistive effect in silicon. But due to its
magnitude the piezoresistive effect in silicon has also attracted the attention of research and development
for all other devices using single crystal silicon. Semiconductor Hall sensors, for example, were capable
of achieving their current precision only after employing methods which eliminate signal contributions
due the applied mechanical stress.
Piezoresistors are resistors made from a piezoresistive material and are usually used for measurement of
mechanicalstress. They are the simplest form of piezoresistive devices.

Operation

For typical stress values in the MPa range the stress dependent voltage drop along the resistor Vr, can be
considered to be linear. A piezoresistor aligned with the x-axis as shown in the figure may be described
by
Gallium arsenide,
1.Rather than ponder the utility of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and other group III-V compounds (e.g., InP,
AlGaAs, GaN) as alternate substrate materials to silicon, it is perhaps more appropriate to think of
micromachining as a set of tools that can provide solutions to issues specific to devices that currently can only
be built in these materials, in particular lasers and optical devices. In that regard, micromachining becomes an
application-specific toolbox whose main characteristic is to address ways to enable new functions or enhance
existing ones.
2.Micromechanical structures such as springs and bridges have been formed in GaAs by both reactive ion
etching and orientation-dependent etching. Micromachining has also been used to incorporate structures such
as mirrors on the surface of III-V semiconductors to create new devices, including tunable lasers [12].
Moreover, micromachining using GaAs and other group

Glass Substrates

1.Glass is without a doubt a companion material to silicon; the two are bonded together figuratively and
literally in many ways. Silicon originates from processed and purified silicates (a form of glass), and silicon
can be made to bond electrostatically to Pyrex ® glass substrates—a process called anodic bonding and common
in the making of pressure sensors. But like all relatives, differences remain. Glasses generally have different
coefficients of thermal expansion than silicon (fused quartz is lower, while window glass is higher), resulting
in interfacial stresses between bonded silicon and glass substrates.
2. Micromachining of glass and fused quartz (amorphous silicon dioxide) substrates is practical in special
applications, such as when an optically transparent or an electrically insulating substrate is required.
Crystalline quartz (as opposed to fused quartz) also has the distinct property of being piezoelectric and is
used for some MEMS devices. However, micromachining of glass or quartz is limited in scope relative to
silicon. Etching in HF or ultrasonic drilling typically yields coarsely defined features with poor edge
control. Thin metal films can be readily deposited on glass or quartz substrates and defined using standard
lithographic techniques.
Channels microfabricated in glass substrates with thin metal microelectrodes have been useful in making
capillaries for miniaturized biochemical analysis systems.
Fused Quartz Substrates
Quartz is a hexagonal material, with the z-axis conventionally identified as the hexagonal axis. Because of
its piezoelectric properties , single-crystal quartz plays an important role in MEMS. Large quartz crystals
are grown from seeds and then sliced into flat wafers.
The standard nomenclature for single-crystal quartz substrates is not based on Miller indices. Some of the
basic orientations (or “cuts”), such as X-cut and Z-cut quartz, refer to the crystalline axes normal to the
plane of the wafer, but others, such as AT-cut quartz, refer to off-axis orientations that are selected
for specific temperature insensitivities of their piezoelectric or mechanical properties. Details on the
different cuts of quartz can be found in any standard reference on piezoelectrics, such as Mason [10] or
Ikeda [11]. We shall not discuss quartz microfabrication in detail, except to comment on the use of
anisotropic wet etchants to create micromechanical structures

Piezoelectric crystals
1.Piezoelectric crystals are one of many small scale energy sources. Whenever piezoelectric crystals are
mechanically deformed or subject to vibration they generate a small voltage, commonly know as
piezoelectricity. This form of renewable energy is not ideally suited to an industrial situation.
2. The ability of certain crystals to generate Piezoelectricity in response to applied mechanical stress is
reversible in that piezoelectric crystals, when subjected to an externally applied voltage, can change shape
by a small amount. This deformation, though only nanometers, has useful applications such as the
production and detection of sound.
3. Probably the best-known use of piezoelectric crystals is in the electric cigarette lighter. Here, pressing
the button causes a spring-loaded hammer to hit a piezoelectric crystal, the high voltage produced by this
ignites the gas as the current jumps over a small spark gap. This technique also applies to some gas
lighters used on gas grills or stoves.
4. Another common usage of a piezoelectric crystal energy source is that of creating a small motor; such
as that used in a reflex camera to operate the auto focus system. These motors operate by vibration. The
two surfaces are forced to vibrate at a phase shift of 90 degrees by a sine wave that has been generated at
the motors resonant frequency. This forces a frictional force where the two surfaces meet and as one of
the surfaces is fixed the other is forced to move.
5.Piezoelectric ceramics can be divided into single crystals and polycrystalline ceramics, the latter being
composed of a collection of many small crystals. The term ‘piezoelectric ceramics’ usually refers to
polycrystalline ceramics only. Single crystal piezoelectric ceramics are simply referred to as
‘piezoelectric crystals’.
According to the rotational symmetry, crystalline materials can be divided into 32 crystal classes:
 21 of these classes lack a center of symmetry;
 20 of the non-centrosymmetric crystal classes show piezoelectricity;
 10 of the piezoelectric crystal classes show pyroelectricity;
pyroelectric material may be ferroelectric.
Pyroelectricity
Of the twenty piezoelectric crystal classes, ten classes exhibit spontaneous polarisation: even in the
absence of mechanical stress or an electric field, the centres of positive and negative charge do not
coincide, giving rise to a built-in electric dipole in each unit cell. The crystal classes with spontaneous
polarisation are said to be pyroelectric.

The pyroelectric effect, i.e., the generation of charge due to a change in temperature, is nothing but a
manifestation of the temperature coefficient of the polarisation.

Examples: tourmaline, Rochelle salt, PZT. Quartz, being piezoelectric, is not pyroelectric.

Ferroelectricity
The direction of polarisation of some pyroelectric materials can be changed by applying a sufficiently
large electric field. If this is the case, the material is also said to be ferroelectric.
Examples: Rochelle salt, PZT. Tourmaline is not ferroelectric.

Ferroelectricity implies pyroelectricity, but the converse does not hold. In analogy to ferromagnetic
materials, ferroelectric materials are inherently hysteretic, i.e., the polarisation not only depends on the
current value of the electric field, but also on its history.

Unlike piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity, knowledge of the crystal class is not sufficient to establish
ferroelectricity. To that end dielectric measurements are required.

Polymers.
What is polymer? Polymers include: Plastics, adhesives, Plexiglass and Lucite.
Principal applications of polymers in MEMS:
● Currently in biomedical applications and adhesive bonding.
● New applications involve using polymers as substrates with electric conductivity made possible by
doping. Molecular structure of polymers:
● It is made up of long chains of organic (hydrocarbon) molecules.
● The molecules can be as long as a few hundred nm. Characteristics of polymers:
● Low melting point; Poor electric conductivity
● Thermoplastics and thermosets are common industrial products
● Thermoplastics are easier to form into shapes.
● Thermosets have higher mechanical strength even at temperature up to 350oC.
Polymers are popular materials used for many industrial products for the following advantages:
● Light weight ● Ease in processing
● Low cost of raw materials and processes for producing polymers
● High corrosion resistance ● High electrical resistance
● High flexibility in structures ● High dimensional stability
(1) Photo-resist polymers are used to produce masks for creating desired patterns on substrates by
photolithography technique.
(2) The same photoresist polymers are used to produce the prime mold with desirable geometry of the
MEMS components in a LIGA process in micro manufacturing.
(3) Conductive polymers are used as “organic” substrates for MEMS and microsystems.
(4) The ferroelectric polymers that behave like piezoelectric crystals can be used as the source of
actuation in micro devices such as in micro pumping.
(5) The thin Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films can be used to produce multilayer microstructures.
(6) Polymers with unique characteristics are used as coating substance to capillary tubes to facilitate
effective electro-osmotic flow in microfluidics.
(7) Thin polymer films are used as electric insulators in micro devices, and as dielectric substance in
micro capacitors.
(8) They are widely used for electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RFI)
shielding in microsystems.
(9) Polymers are ideal materials for encapsulation of micro sensors and the packaging of other
microsystems.
Polymers are poor electric conducting materials by nature.
Epoxy resins and adhesives are routinely used in microsystems packaging. Some of the well-established
applications of polymers in the area of microsystems are:
1. Etch-stop layers for creating desired patterns for photolithography.
2. As prime molds with desired geometry of microcomponents in the LIGA process.
3. Conductive polymers as organic semiconductors.
4. Ferroelectric polymers as sources of actuation for micropumping.
5. Coating substances for capillary to enhance electro-osmotic flow in microfluids.
6. Shielding of electromagnetic interference (EMI).
7. Encapsulation of microsensors and packaging.
Some of the features which make polymers suitable for microscale applications are:
moldability, conformability, ease of deposition as thick and thin films.
In addition,some polymers have conducting and semiconducting behaviors, while some others show
pyroelectric effects in polymer side chains and these properties can be exploited.

Properties of some of The commonly used polymers are listed in Table

SR.N Polymer Properties of Interest

o
1 Polyethylene (PE) Excellent chemical resistance, low cost, good electrical
insulation properties, clarity of thin films, easy processability
2 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) Excellent electrical insulation over a range of frequencies,
good fire retardance, resistance to weathering
3 PVDF Piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties, excellent resistance
to harsh environments
4 Polytetra-fluoroethylene High heat resistance, high resistance to chemical agents and
solvents, high anti adhesiveness, high dielectric properties, low
(PTFE)
friction coefficient, nontoxicity
5 Polystyrene Optical property (transparency), ease of coloring and
processing
6 Polydimethlysiloxane (PDMS) High viscoelasticity, biocompatible, easily moldable

The required characteristics of polymers used in microsystems are:

1. Strong interfacial adhesion between layers.
2. Suitable elastic moduli and strength to provide and sustain the needed deformation.
3. Dimensional and environmental stability.
These materials are usually deposited as monomers or oligomers and then allowed to polymerize. The
energy required for the polymerization reaction may be supplied in various forms, such as
photopolymerization, electrochemical polymerization, and vacuum polymerization.
Polymers used in microscale applications are broadly classified in two categories:
(a) Structural polymers and
(b) Sacrificial polymers.
Polymers are long chains of carbon (or sometimes silicon) atoms with various chemical side
groups attached to the carbon . If the chains are not crosslinked by covalent bonds, they are able to move
relative to each other at elevated temperature under applied stress. Such materials reharden upon cooling
and are called thermoplastics. The temperature above which flow readily occurs is the glass transition
temperature, which varies with the length of the molecules and the type of side groups.
PMMA [poly(methylmethacrylate)], polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, acrylic, and other thermoplastics
are used in sheet form as a substrate for micromachining.
Heating above the glass transition temperature enables molding or embossing under pressure from a
master for some of these materials (described in Chapter 3). Layers of polycarbonate and acrylic, with
channels already formed in their surfaces by hot embossing or conventional machining, have been
thermally bonded together for microfluidic systems. In MEMS, thick layers of PMMA have also been
spin-coated and used as a photoresist.
Polymer substrates have not been used as much as silicon in micromachining, but have some advantages,
perhaps the most important being lower cost. The processing temperatures allowed are much lower than
for silicon and many glasses, but suitable fabrication processes have been designed, particularly for
biological applications.
Polymers are in general less stiff than inorganic materials (see Table 2.1). Polyimide is a material that is
most often used in the form of sheets 7 to 125 μm thick, but can also be spin-coated in films a few
micrometers thick. It is sold by DuPont High Performance Films of Circleville, Ohio, under the trade
name Kapton
Polyimide is relatively inert, is a good electrical insulator, and can be exposed to a wide range of
temperatures, roughly –250º to +400ºC, for at least a short time. In the electronics industry, polyimide has
been used as a flexible substrate for printed circuit boards and for hard disk drives. In micromachining,
sheets have been laser cut to form microfluidic devices, while spin-on films have been used as resists,
sacrificial layers, and a wafer-bonding adhesive. Other polymers finding application in MEMS include
parylenes and silicones. Parylenes are deposited by chemical-vapor deposition to form a conformal
coating. There are several forms of parylene due to variations in the chemical structure .
Like polyimide, parylenes are fairly inert chemically and form a barrier to the flow of water and other
vapors. Silicones are different from most other polymers in that the backbone chain of atoms is silicon
rather than carbon. Silicones are very compliant and have been used as the deformable membrane in
valves , as well as being a common die-attach material in packaging .
A structural polymer is usually a UV curable polymer with urethane acrylate, epoxy acrylate, or acryloxy
silane as the main constituent. Processing with automated equipment or manual methods without
additional solvents or heat is possible because of the low viscosity. It has the requisite flexibility and
resistance to solvents, chemicals, and water. A structural polymer can be used as the backbone structure
in building multifunctional polymers. SU8 has emerged as a popular structural polymer for microsystems.
Structural polymers can also be used as sensing and actuating components.
PDMS is a commonly used silicone-based organic polymer. It is inert, nontoxic and highly viscoelastic.
Its shear modulus varies from 10 kPa to 1 MPa. Its surface chemistry can be modified by plasma
oxidation and addition of SiOH groups to the surface to make it hydrophilic. PDMS is widely used as a
stamp material in soft lithography. It is also used in microfluidic systems.