MEMS Materials

Ref: Chapter 7 (pg: 235-270)

Taik-Ran-HsU
1. Silicon (Si) – ((i) why Si? (ii) Crystal structure of Si (iii) Miller indices (iv) 2nd unit
2. Silicon compounds:- i) Silicon dioxide (SiO2)
ii) Silicon carbide (SiC)
iii) Silicon Nitride (Si3N4)
iv) Poly crystalline silicon/poly silicon
v) Silicon Piezoresistors
3*. Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)  for optical devices
4*. Quartz
5*. Piezo electric crystals
6*. Polymers (i) Polymers for Industrial materials
(ii) Polymers for MEMS & Micro systems
(iii) Conductive polymers
7*. LB film (Langmuir – Blodgett film)
8. Packaging materials
Introduction
 Micro systems and micro electrics fabrication techniques are closely related, but not
interchangeable.
 Designing and packaging of micro systems (MEMS) is significantly more different from
that of micro electronics.
 Many MEMS use micro electronics materials such as Si & GaAs for sensing and
actuating elements, bcz of (i) their dimensional stability (ii) fabrication & packaging
techniques for those materials are well established.
 However there are many other materials used for MEMS, like quartz, pyrex, polymers,
plastics and ceramics etc.
 In LIGA processes, plastics & polymers are widely used to produce micro systems.
LIGA  Lithography Galvano forming Abformung
 
electroforming molding
Materials used for Microsystems/ MEMs.
(1) Silicon: Disadvantages
1.1 why Si? It is the ideal substrate for MEMS. Because of uneven lettice
geometry “Si”
 It is the most abundant material on earth It makes stress analysis of “Si”
Structures tedious
 It is mechanically stable  In different plane orientation
 It can be integrated into electronics young’s modulus, shear modulus
 It has piezo resistivity and elasticity is different
 It is almost the ideal structural material. Its young’s modulus is almost same as that of
steel (~ 2105 MPa). But it as light as Aluminium. Materials with high young’s modulus
can bitterly maintain a linear relationship between the applied load and induced
reformations
 It has high melting point (at 14000c), it is about twice as high as that of Aluminium.
 (means can withstand higher temp)
 Its thermal expansion coefficient is S times smaller than that of steel and 10 times smaller
than that of aluminium.
(ie performance is less dependent on temperature)
 Fabrication processes for ‘Si’ substrates are well established and documented.
 ‘Si’ wafers are flat and also accept the coating of additional thin-film layers for building
micro structures or conducting electricity.
Hence ‘Si’ is the ideal material for sensors and actuators.
Note: Silicon wafers are fabricated by using CZ method. CZ  CZochralski
1.2 Silicon Crystalline structure

 “Si” has uneven lattice geometry for its atoms. But it has face centric cubic (FCC) unit
cell.
 A unit cell consists of atoms situated at fixed locations in a lattice
1.3 The miller Indices
 Because of the uneven distribution of atoms in ‘Si’ crystal, the material properties are not
uniform in the crystal. These are dependant on the orientations and the planes of the
crystal lattice hence ‘Si’ substrate is Anisotropic.
 The popular method to designate crystal planes and orientations is the miller indices.
Designation of the planes of a “Si” cubic cell

The ‘Si’ atoms of (111) plane are strongly bonded hence it is very difficult to displace
atoms (111) plane. Hence the etch rate is “Low” in (111) plane.
But the etch rate is high in (100) plane
Note: the material properties of ‘Si’ depend on the crystal planes and orientation bcz of the
uneven no.of FCC atoms in Si cubic cell.
Example1: Let us consider a point (2, 4, 4) in an arbitrary plane in crystal lattice then designate
its plane
Step1: Planes (2, 0, 0) (0, 4, 0) (0, 0, 4)
1 1 1
Step 2: (Inverse)   
2 4 4
Step 3: LCM (2, 4, 4)  4 (LCM)
Step 4: Multiply step 2 step 3 (ie LCM)
4 4 4
 , ,    2,1,1 plane- i.e the assumed point is in (2, 1, 1) planes of FCC cubic cell
2 4 4
of Si
Example 2: Let us consider a point (2, 3, 4 ) in an arbitrary plane of crystal lattice. Then
designate its plane.
 Point in Si crystal lattice (2, 3, 4)
Step 1: (Orientation)  (2, 0, 0) (0, 3, 0) , (0, 0, 4)
1 1 1
Step 2: Reciprocal  , 
2 3 4
1 1 1
Step 3: LCM of  , , 
2 3 4
Least common multiplier = 12
 12 12 12 
 Step 2  LCM   , , 
 2 3 4 
= (6, 4, 3)
 The corresponding plane designation is (6, 4, 3) plane.
1.4: ‘Si’ wafer representation in different plane orientations
(1 0 0 ) plane, Si wafer

(1 0 0) Si p type wafer n-type

(1 1 1) plane Si wafer

(1 1 1) p. type ‘Si’ wafer (1 1 1) n-type Si-wafer

(2) Silicon Compounds

(2.1) Silicon dioxide (SiO2) in MEMs

Adv: (1) SiO2 is thermal and electric insulator
(2) SiO2 can be used as mask, in the etching of Si substrate
(3) SiO2 can be used as a sacrificial layer in surface micromachining
How to prepare SiO2 ?
SiO2 can be produced by (1) Dry Oxidation
(2) Wet oxidation  Faster
 ie it can be produced by heating “Si” in an oxidant with (or) without steam.
(1) Dry Oxidation
Si + O2  SiO2
(2) Wet oxidation
Si + 2H2O  SiO2 + 2H2
Note: Oxidation is a diffusion process.
(2.2) Silicon Carbide (SiC)
Advantages: (1) High dimensional and chemical stability at higher temp.
(2) It has very high resistance to oxidation even at high temperatures.
(3) SiC thin films are often deposited on MEMs components to protect them from
extreme temperature.
(ie. It can be used as protective layer)
How to get Sic?
 Sic is the by product, while producing single crystal silicon boules. Because silicon exists
in the raw materials of carbon (such as coal, cake, wood chips etc).
 By heating there materials (Coal, wood chips, cake) in the electric are furnace, Sic is
produced at the bottom of the crucible. Note: Sic can also be produced by various
deposition techniques
2.3 Silicon Nitride (Si3 N4)
 Superior properties of Si3N4
(1) It provides excellent barrier to diffusion of water and sodium ions and other toxic
fluids into the substrate
(2) It provides ultra strong resistance to oxidation
(3) It is suitable for mask, for deep etching
(4) Electric insulator
Applications: used in optical wave guides.
 How to prepare Si3N4?
It can be produced from Si containing gases and NH3
SiCl2H2 + 4NH3  Si3N4+6HCl + 6H2
Note: It can be produced either by LPCD or PECVD
LPCVD  Low pressure Chemical vapour Deposition
PECVD  Plasma – Enhanced chemical vapour Deposition
2.4 Poly crystalline silicon/ poly silicon:  ISOTROPIC
 It can be deposited onto Si substrate by CVD.
 It is one of the principal material in surface micromachining
Advantages: 1) It is the Isotropic material in thermal & structural analysis
2) It is widely used in RF MEMS eg. For micro resistors.
3) It is widely used in the IC industry for resistors, gates for transistors, thin film
Transistors
4) If it is highly doped with Arsenic & phosphorous for n-type can drastically
Boron with p-type reduce its resistivity
And produce conductors and control switches.
2.5 Silicon piezo resistors
Piezo resistance is defined as the change in electrical resistance of solids when subjected
to stress field (ie change resistance due to stress applies)
 Doping Boran into Si lattice produces p-type Si
 Doping As (or) p results in n-type Si
 Both p-type & n-type ‘Si’ exhibit excellent piezo resistive effect.
 It is Anisotropic
Draw Back:  Temperature dependent
 The sensitivity of ‘Si’ piezo resistor to the applied stress, decreases rapidly with
increase in temp

(3) Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)

 It is a compound semiconductor. It is made up of equal no.of Ga & As atoms.
(sc)
Disadvantages
1. It has more complicated structure, since it is a compound Sc.
2. More difficult to process than Si
3. More expensive than ‘Si’
Advantages:
1. It is used for excellent monolithic integration of electronic & photon devices on a single
substrate.
2. Photonic materials require high mobility of electrons. In GaAs electron mobility is 7 times
greater than that of Si.
3. Thermal insulator.
4. High dimensional stability, even at higher temperature
4. Quartz:
 Quartz is a compound of SiO2
 It is the ideal material for sensors because of its
 high thermal stability
Excellent electrical insulator
 It is used in piezo electric devices
 Quartz crystals are used in wrist watches, electronic filters, resonators
 It is used in microfluidics applications in Bio medical analysis.
Disadvantages: 1) Quartz is hard to machine
(i) Diamond cutting
(ii) Ultra sonic cutting methods are used for precise trimming of quartz
materials
5. Piezo electric crystals
 It is the non semiconducting material
 These are the solids of ceramic compounds
 They can produce a voltage, when a mechanical force is applied between their faces.
 The reverse situation is there is change in its shape if a voltage is applied. This unique
material behavior is called as piezo electric effect. A stress applied, will alter the separation
between the & -ve charges in the unit cell. Hence there will be polarization at surface, hence
voltage is generated.
 Examples: 1) Quartz
2) Tourmaline
3) Sodium potassium tartrate
4) Rechelle salt (NaKc4H4O6-4H2O)
 5) Barium titanate (BaTiO3) and
6) Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT)
Application: (1) Piezo electric effect is used for high voltage generation through the application
of high compressive stress.
(2) Used in transduces
Note: The conversion of mechanical to electrical energy and vice-varsa can be done by the
electromechanical conversion factor ‘K’
o / p of mechanical energy o / p of electrical energy
(or) K  o / p of mechanical energy
2
(i) K2 = i / p of electrical energy

The relationship between the change in resistance and the applied stress field is as shown.
{R} = [] {}
Where {R} = {Rxx Ryy Rzz Rxy Rxz Ryz}T
= change of resistance in an infinite small cubic piezoresistive crystal element,
T
      

{} =  xx , yy, zz, xy, xz, yz
 
= The corresponding stress components
  
Here xx , yy, zz are normal stress components
  
xy, xz, yz are the shearing stress components
The vector [] is piezo resistive coefficient matrix
The piezo resistive coefficient matrix is given by
 11  12  12 0 0 0 
 0 
 12  11  12 0 0
   0 0 0 
     12 12 11 
 0 0 0  44 0 0 
 0 0 0 0  44 0 
 
 0 0 0 0 0  44  66
 {R} = [] {}