MEMS Fabrication

• The first MEMS are fabricated using

techniques borrowed and adapted from
integrated circuit (IC) fabrication and
semiconductor processing.

• Such techniques create structures on thin, flat

substrates (usually silicon) in a series of
layered processes.

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 Example: MEMS Pressure Sensor
BULK MICROMACHINING
• Start with a thin silicon substrate, called a
wafer, typically measuring 200-400 µm thick.

• Then a thin layer of silicon dioxide (SiO2) is

then “grown” on the wafer.

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• Next, a thin layer of photosensitive material
called photoresist, or simply resist, is
deposited on the SiO2 layer in a process called
spinning.

• Then a transparent plate with selective

opaque regions called a mask is then brought
in close proximity to the wafer.

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• On the regions of the photoresist that make contact
with the UV light, the resist undergoes a
photochemical process in which it hardens and
becomes less soluble.

{This is true for a negative resist. If a positive resist were used, then the exposed
regions would become more soluble}

• The unexposed resist is removed by using a chemical

called a developer, leaving a portion of the SiO2 layer
exposed.

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• The result is a window through the resist to the
SiO2. This exposed region is then chemically
etched with buffered hydrofluoric (HF) acid.

• The presence of the photoresist on certain

regions, however, protects the SiO2 beneath it
from being etched.

• Another chemical process, the remaining

photoresist is stripped from the wafer leaving the
patterned SiO2.
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• The substrate itself is now etched using a
potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution.

• Unlike the previous etching process, however, the

KOH-Si reaction proceeds at different rates in
different spatial directions due to the crystalline
structure of the silicon substrate and its
orientation.

• Such a direction dependent etching process is

known as anisotropic etching.
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 STEPS IN A TYPICAL BULK
MICROMACHINING PROCESS

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• In bulk micromachining the substrate itself
becomes part of the structure for the MEMS
device.

• In another technique called surface

micromachining, the structure of the MEMS
consists of layers of material built on top of
the substrate.

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 SURFACE MICROMACHINING
• First, a polymer known as polyimide is
selectively deposited on the silicon substrate.

• The polyimide itself will not form any

structural part of the cantilever, but rather is a
temporary layer used to build around.

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• Such a temporary layer is called a sacrificial layer.

• Next a thin film of aluminum is deposited via physical

vapor deposition (PVD) on the sacrificial layer.

• The polyimide is then chemically removed in a

process called release.

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 STEPS IN A TYPICAL SURFACE
MICROMACHINING PROCESS

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 Micro-fabrication process
• Si Wafer Fabrication
• IC fabrication
 Deposition
 Spin coating
 PVD – Physical Vapor Deposition
 CVD – Chemical Vapor Deposition
 Lithography (Pattern transfer)
 Removal (Mostly etching process)
 Wet / Dry etching
 Plasma etching
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• One of the most important techniques
employed in microfabrication is the addition
of a thin layer of material to an underlying
layer.

• Additive techniques include those occurring

via chemical reaction with an existing layer.

• The addition of impurities to a material in

order to alter its properties, a practice known
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 Silicon substrate
• In MEMS and microfabrication we start with a
thin, flat piece of material onto which (or into
which – or both!) we create structures.

• This thin, flat piece of material is known as the

substrate, the most common of which in MEMS is
crystalline silicon.

• Silicon’s physical and chemical properties make it

a versatile material in accomplishing structural,
mechanical and electrical tasks in the fabrication
of a MEMS.
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