INTEGRATION OF THIN FLIM PIEZOELECTRICS ON SILICON FOR APPLICATION IN VIBRATIONAL ENERGY SCAVENGING

E.K. Reilly1, P.K. Wright2 Physical Science Inc., Andover, MA, USA 2 University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
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Abstract: The advancement of piezoelectric energy scavenging has been hindered by the ability to grow highly functional piezoelectric films directly on Si. This research develops a method for integrating highly oriented PZT (PbZrxTix-1O3) piezoelectric films directly on Si with the use of highly oriented electrode layers. The films are grown on a bottom oxide electrode layer of SrTiO3 (STO) and SrRuO3 (SRO) using pulsed laser deposition. This method employs neutral Ar ion bombardment to compensate for the large residual stress present in the films due to high deposition temperatures. The functionality of the PZT in MEMS energy scavenging devices is discussed. Key Words: Piezoelectric, MEMS, energy scavenging 1. INTRODUCTION Piezoelectric films such as AlN and ZnO have been historically used by the MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) community in sensors, actuators, and resonators [1]. However, these films do not possess a sufficient electromechanical conversion behavior to be functional in energy scavenging systems. Other material classes, such as PZT, have been shown to function quite effectively as electromechanical transduction mechanisms [2], but the incorporation of thin film PZT directly on Si has be inhibited by the large residual stresses present in the film after the growth procedure. The development of residual in the PZT film is to due the structural change and thermal mistfit between the PZT and the substrate over the deposition process. These stresses are critical to the structure and properties of the film. In order for the PZT to function in a MEMS energy scavenging device, a compensation method for these large residual stresses must be developed. 2. EXPERIMENTAL A 1 m PZT film, PbZr0.47Ti0.53O3, was grown via pulsed laser deposition on 50 nm SrRuO3 bottom electrode. The substrate Si wafers were provided by Motorola and were coated with a 10 nm SrTiO3 by a process described elsewhere [3]. The use of the oxide electrode layer versus that of a standard metallic layer was to enable epitaxial growth and to increase the piezoelectric coefficient of the film [4]. The resulting films were coated with a layer of positive photoresist (Shipley 1818) and patterned in arrays of 800 m by 100 m cantilever beams. The beams were coated with a metallic layer to serve both as an electrical contact and a elastic layer. The metallic layer was deposited by electron beam evaporation and the thickness of the layers were 10 nm Cr, 100 nm Au, 150 nm Pd, and 100 nm Au. The excess metal was stripped using and ultrasonic acetone bath. The samples were then cleaned and recoated with photoresist. The inverse pattern was developed on the samples to provide a masking for the physical etch process. The cantilevers were defined on the sample by etching the outline down to the Si layers using Ar ion beam bombardment so that they maybe released from the substrate. The cantilevers were then released using a XeF2 gaseous etch. 3. DISCUSSION The resulting films had a tensile residual stress of approximately 800 MPa, qualifying them as usable. The deposition of the metallic layer to serve as the top electrode layer reduces the net residual stress present in the film by 200 MPa. The metal elastic layer also provides structural integrity as well as protection for the piezoelectric layer during the etching procedures. The use of an additional stress compensation technique was

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required to further decrease the residual stress so that the formation of fully released free standing films was possible. The methodology employed to reduce the residual stress was a controlled bombardment of neutral Ar atoms. In this process energetic, chemically neutral Ar ions are accelerated toward the surface of a thin film in a uniformly distributed beam. Theoretically, upon impact, the ion beam modifies the surface in two ways; first by disrupting the crystalline structure of the topmost layer of the film and then by slowly etching the film via sputtering [5]. The bombardment was done using a background Ar pressure of 8x10-5 torr and a current density of 0.08 mA/cm2. The horizontal radius of curvature (shown in Figure 1) was measure every 100 seconds using a white-light interferometer profiling system (Wyko Interferomter).

The Wyko softward package Vision32 was used to determine the curvature after each bombardment time (Figures 3-5) and the stress in the film was determined by the Stoney method [6] and plotted as a function of bombardment time Figure 6.

Figure 3: Vison32 curvature data at 100 s

Figure 4: Vison32 curvature data of 300 s

10 m

Figure 1: Horizontal radius of curvature

(a)

(b)

Figure 2: Optical profile of 2 beams: a) tip, b) base

The optics on the Wyko system prevented the observation of an entire unimorph in one frame. Therefore, a series of images of both base and tip over a variety arrays were taken. For consistency, all measurements were taken 400 m from the base of the unimorph, so as to be observable in either view. Long bombardment exposure times caused the surface of the metal layer to become rough and damaged, making it more difficult to measure using this method. Therefore fewer measurements were available for analysis compared to low bombardment times. The example profiles above show that the stress change did not occur uniformly over the surface of the beam. Initally, only the top of the curved surface experienced direct bombardment from the incident ions. The subsequent bombardment induced a change in shape and allows for the outer surfaces to be subsequently bombarded. The downfall of this was the center was more significantly exposed than the edges,

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causing a non-uniform surface profile of the beam if exposed for insufficient times.

Figure 5: Vison32 curvature data for two unimorphs at 700 s

Time (s)

bombardment ( < 300 seconds). The etch rate at this current density is 0.083 nm/s (5 nm/min) so only a small amount of material was lost over the duration of the process. The stress in the films dropped rapidly during the first 200 seconds of bombardment time. The exponential drop off in relaxation rate may be explained by the inability of the ions to fully penetrated the metallic film, therefore only compressing the surface layers. However, the reduction in residual stress was sufficient to planarize the composite cantilever beams, as shown in Figures 8 and 9.

(mm )
-1

40 m

Figure 6: Plot of curvature as a function of bombardment time

Figure 8: SEM of planarized unimorph arrays with attached proof mass; top down view

S (MPa)

100 m

Time (s)

Figure 9: SEM of planarized unimorph arrays with attached proof mass; 45o view

Figure 7: Plot of stress level as a function of bombardment time

The rate of stress reduction in the film was nonlinear as seen in Figures 6 and 7, though it can be estimated to be around 1 MPa/s for the initial

4. CONCLUSION This research develops a method for integrating highly oriented PZT (PbZr0.47Ti0.53O3)

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piezoelectric films directly on Si with the use of a bottom oxide electrode layer of SrTiO3 (STO) and SrRuO3 (SRO). The large tensile residual stresses present in the films were compensated for using a combination of metallic elastic layer deposition and neutral Ar ion bombardment. This research specifically focused on the use of neutral Ar ion bombardment to compensate for the large residual stress present. It was theorized that the reduction in the overall stress in the free-standing cantilever structure was due to the creation of a compressive stress within the metal film. A study of the thin film PZT cantilever structures as MEMS energy scavenging devices is underway.

REFERENCES [1] Piazza, G., Piezoelectric Aluminum Nitride Vibrating RF MEMS for Radio Front-End Technology, Ph.D. Dissertation, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 2005. [2] Roundy, S., and Wright, P.K., A piezoelectric vibration based generator for wireless electronics, Smart Materials and Structures, 12,1131-42, 2004. [3] Reilly, E.K., Modeling and Fabrication of a Thin film Piezoelectric Microscale Energy Scavenging Device, Ph.D. Dissertation, Mechanical Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 2007. [4] Reilly, E.K., and Wright, P.K., Thin Film Piezoelectric Energy Scavenging Systems for an On-Chip Power Supply, Power MEMS 2006, 161-165, 2006. [5] Bifano, T.G., Johnson, H.T., Bierden, P., and Mali, R.K.,Elilmination of Stress-Induced Curvature in Thin-Film Structures, Journal of Micromechanical Systems, 11, 592-597, 2002. [6] Stoney, G., The Tension of Metallic Films Deposited by Electrolysis, Proceedings of he Royal Society of London A, 84, 172-175, 1909.

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