ME 462: Introduction to MEMS

Spring 2022

Lecture 1
Nezih Topaloglu
Background
 Pre-requisites:
 Background in classical physics, mechanics of
materials, electrical circuits
 Knowledge of Calculus and ODE
 Design, modeling and fabrication of MEMS
will be covered
 Some programs that may be used in the
project and assignments are MATLAB, ANSYS
and/or some MEMS layout design software
Course Outline
 An overview of microfabrication methods:
 Thin-film deposition
 Lithography
 Etching
 Bulk and surface micromachining.
 MEMS Foundry processes.
 Review of basic MEMS governing equations in
mechanical, electrical and thermal domain.
 Design, analysis and characterization of basic
MEMS devices.
Goals
 On successful completion of this course,
students will be able to:
 Understand the basics of MEMS
 Develop familiarity with common microfabrication
methods
 Develop familiarity with the steps required for
design and analysis of a MEMS device
 Read and understand emerging technical literature
about the subject.
Administrative Info
 Textbook:
 “Foundations of MEMS”, Chang Liu, Prentice Hall.
 “Microsystem Design”, S. D. Senturia, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
2000
 Course Website:
 https://yulearn.yeditepe.edu.tr/course/view.php?id=13773

 Office Hours: TBA

 Marking Scheme:
Assignments, Tech. Paper Readings & quizzes 30%
Midterm 20%
Term project 20%
Final 30%
 Additional Remarks
 Academic honesty: You should do all assignments yourself although discussion with
other people is possible.
 Late assignments will be accepted, but 20% will be deducted for each day it is late.
 Technical paper reading assignments will be given, and students are expected to come
to the online lecture having completed the assigned reading. A hybrid quiz (or an
assignment which will be collected in lecture) may be given.
 A separate document will describe the detailed requirements for the term project. The
project is meant to develop skills in library research, critical thinking, device design and
analysis, technical writing skills and presentation skills.
 Please respect the instructor’s office hours and online office hours. If you have
questions, please inquire during my office hours. If the office hours do not match with
your schedule, please set up an appointment with me via email.
 The lectures will be given in Zoom and the course material will be shared in Moodle.
Please register to the course Moodle page. Please save your e-mail and your student
ID (in «Optional» section) to your Moodle profile.
 What are MEMS?
 Micro Electro Mechanical Systems
 Micro: Very small systems
 Electro: Has electronic components
 Mechanical: Has moving parts*
 Systems: Packaged in a small system
* Today, MEMS includes thermal, magnetic, fluidic and optical devices and systems as well.

 MEMS are the integration of electrical, mechanical

(and/or chemical) elements, sensors, actuators,
electronics and first level packaging into one
microsystem using microfabrication technology.
 In Europe, they are called “microsystems”.
 The term commonly used: “MEMS device”
Size of MEMS
 1 m < L < 300 m lateral
dimensions
Surface micromachined structures
(classic MEMS)

 300 m < L < 3 mm

Bulk silicon/wafer bonded
structures … still call them
MEMS

 10 nm < L < 1 m
Nano electromechanical systems
(NEMS)
MEMS and IC technology
 Integrated circuit (IC) technology (named CMOS) starts with the
building of first transistor, in 1949.
 It is the key technology behind the microchips (microprocessors, DSP
chips, etc)
 The objective of MEMS technology is to form small structures with
dimensions in the micrometer scale.
 Significant parts of the MEMS technology have been adopted from IC
technology. For instance, almost all devices are built on wafers of
silicon, like ICs. The structures are realized in thin films of materials, like
ICs. They are patterned using photolithographic methods, like ICs.
 There are however several processes that are not derived from IC
technology (we will cover those later).
 Integrated Circuit (IC) Fabrication
The first transistor by
William Shockley (Bell
Labs, 1947)
The first IC: Two transistors
mounted on a bar of germanium
(Texas Instruments, 1958)
 1949 – Shockley’s published classic
paper on p-n junctions and bipolar
transistors
 1958 – First IC containing two
transistors mounted on a bar of
Germanium
 1959 – R. Noyce proposed first
monolithic IC. Aluminum contacts
were etched using lithography
 1960 – J. Hoerni develops IC Planar
process. Oxide layer is formed on a
semiconductor surface.
 1960 – First MOSFET reported by D.
Kahng and M. Atalla (combination of
Si and SiO2)
 Moore’s Law

 Moore's law
describes a long-term
trend in the history of
computing hardware,
in which the number of
transistors that can be
placed inexpensively
on an integrated circuit
has doubled
approximately every
two years
 Feynman’s Famous Talk
 Richard Feynmann, Caltech (Nobel Prize, Physics, 1965)
American Physical Society Meeting, December 29, 1959:
“What I want to talk about is the problem of manipulating and
controlling things on a small scale. …. In the year 2000, when they
look back at this age, they will wonder why it was not until the year
1960 that anybody began seriously to move in this direction.”

“… And I want to offer another prize -- … $1,000 to the first guy

who makes an operating electric motor---a rotating electric motor
which can be controlled from the outside and, not counting the lead-
in wires, is only 1/64 inch cube.”

… he had to pay the electric motor prize only a year later

For Feynman’s famous talk: http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html

 History of MEMS
 1964 – Westinghouse produces the first surface
micromachined MEMS device
 Late 1960’s – Honeywell and Philips
commercialize piezoresistive pressure sensor
 1970 – Invention of microprocessor sparked
First bulk micromachined accelerometer
G. Kovacs, Stanford University, 1979
interest in lithographic fabrication that would
have a huge impact on MEMS fabrication
 1970 – Kurt Petersen and IBM developed
diaphragm-type Si micromachined pressure
sensors
 1979 – Stanford University develops the first
bulk micromachined accelerometer

The resonant gate transistor produced by

Nathanson and Newell, Westinghouse, 1964
 History of MEMS
First bulk micromachined accelerometer
G. Kovacs, Stanford University, 1979
The resonant gate transistor produced by
Nathanson and Newell, Westinghouse, 1964
 1984 – MEMS and IC can be fabricated
together using the Polysilicon Micromachining
process developed at Univ. of California,
Berkeley
 1987 – MEMS name was introduced in the US
 1989 - First Polysilicon electrostatic
micromotor demonstrated at Berkeley
 1990 – Silicon ink-jet printers become a
commodity
 2000s – The number of MEMS applications
continually increases
Driving forces for MEMS Development

Source: F. Solzbacher, 2005

MEMS devices
 MEMS Sensors:
 Pressure sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, temperature
sensors, chemical sensors, etc
 MEMS Actuators:
 Electrostatic, thermal, magnetic, pneumatic, piezoelectric
actuators
 BioMEMS & Microfluidics:
 Chemical analysis, DNA analysis, drug delivery, etc
 MOEMS:
 Optical switches, micromirrors
 RF MEMS:
 Microswitches, filters, passive elements
A Piezoresistive pressure sensor
 The piezoresistive effect: The change
in electrical resistance due to applied
mechanical stress.
 Piezoresistors are made by selectively
doping the silicon diaphragm.
 They are located in the center of four
edges
 When the diaphragm is bent by a
uniformly applied pressure difference,
the locations of the piezoresistors
correspond to regions of maximum
tensile stress.
 DLP: Digital Light Processor
 Developed by Texas Instruments, as
an alternative to current projector
technology
 More than 100000 (Deformable
Micromirror Devices) DMD included in
one chip
 Each micromirror, when placed at the
correct angle, reflects light towards
the screen and illuminates one pixel
 Advantages of DLP projectors:
 Smaller size
 Lower maintanence costs
 Have no filter,
Source: http://www.dlp.com/dlp_technology  No lamp replacement
 Higher quality images
 DLP: Digital Light Processor

 The DLP chip is made up of DMDs, where each DMD is around 10x10 μm2.
 SRAM (Static random-addressing memory) circuits employing CMOS
technology for controlling each mirror are embedded on the Si substrate
beneath the layer of mirrors.
 Capacitive accelerometer

Source: R. Howe, 2003

 Used in automotive air bag deployment. Total chip size: 3 x 3 mm2

 Fixed and movable electrodes form a series of parallel-connected
capacitors
 If an acceleration a is applied to the chip, the proof mass moves
against the frame with an inertial force (F = ma)
MEMS actuator examples
MEMS actuator examples
Micromotor examples

Linear stepping motor Rotating motor

Microtransporter
Microtransporter
MEMS for mobile phones
Successful MEMS examples
 Automotive industry: manifold air pressure sensor, air bag
sensor (accelerometer)
 TI Digital Light Processor (DLP) video projection system
(development ~$1B)
 Inkjet nozzles (HP, Canon, etc) up to 1600x1600 resolution
 MEMS gyroscopes: Mostly used in GPS devices
 BioMEMS examples
 Surface Acoustic Waves – MEMS Filters
 Physical, chemical and biological sensors