Analytical Modeling for Fabrication A

of Biomedical Pressure Sensors by
Bulk Micromachining Technology:
Silicon Capacitive Pressure Sensors

Florin Gaiseanu
Science of Information and Technology, Romania

INTRODUCTION

In the present informational era, the informational devices have been increasing their impact not only in
individual and global mass media communications (Gaiseanu, 2019a, 2022a), but also in the individual
and collective decisional processes (Filip, 2022) by big data analysis (Filip, 2020). The production of the
informational devices largely has been grown from simple units to sophisticated integrated circuits and
microprocessors, involving for about three decades the intensive development of the microelectrome-
chanical systems (MEMS) (Xu et al., 2019), using these systems to complete the advantages of integra-
tion of the sensing informational elements with the micro-processing informational complexes (Song
et al., 2020), and of the artificial intelligent systems, which are compatible with human health (Filip,
2021). The individual miniature sensing elements serve in a large range of applications in biomedical,
aerospace, automation/automobile fields (Xu et al., 2019; Song et al., 2020), and these are also suit-
able to be further integrated in more complex systems like “Lab-on-a-chip” (Li, 2008; Lin, 2008), and
in silicon-silicon-dioxide-chromium for the detection of the proteins and photo lipids, nitrogen-doped
silicon to detect specific proteins, and amorphous silicon-image sensor based on thin-film transistors
for X-ray medical imaging. These sensing elements can serve in other suitable combined architecture-
complex structures such as silicon probe – polyimide monolithic sensor systems for the detection of
neural activity, complementary metal-oxide-silicon (CMOS) and combined bipolar junction transistor
with CMOS (BiCMOS), with special biomedical applications for the measurement of the heartbeat
rate, of the respiration and of the peripheral and cranial nerve activities. These elements are also used in
silicon MEMS-type microphone for the determination of the pulse, silicon nanowires for the detection
of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules, (Xu et al.,2019), in versatile integration in measurement
telematics, together with silicon microprocessors in long-time monitoring medical procedures (Khiem,
H. (2011); Xu et al., 2008; Şevket, 1998).
In the healthcare and diagnostic domain, the involvement of the sensing devices and intelligent
microsystems became of acute importance, because they offer a compatible and complete intervention
due to the used compatible materials, micro-miniaturization and integration into in-situ or in operative
Lab-stations micro-processing lines (Gaiseanu, 2019b). The silicon capacitive sensors for biomedical
applications are informational microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), measuring the blood pres-
sure, with remarkable advantages related to miniaturization, low-cost production – characteristic to the
silicon planar technology, diversity and versatile integration in measurement telematics lines together
with silicon microprocessors, in long-time monitoring medical procedures.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-7366-5.ch043
This article, published as an Open Access article in the gold Open Access encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Sixth Edi-
tion, is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and production in any medium, provided the author of the original work and original publication source are properly credited.

1
Analytical Modeling for Fabrication of Biomedical Pressure Sensors by Bulk Micromachining Technology

The silicon semiconductor technology in general, specifically the bulk micromachining (BMM) and
surface micromachining (SMM) technology in particular (Bliat, 1998), offer advantageous methods to
approach the preparation of various capacitive sensors like piezoresistive sensors, optical fiber pressure
sensor, and resonant pressure sensors. Classic applications in the medical field refer to measurement of
blood, intraocular and intracranial pressure in coronary heart disease, glaucoma and hypertension, and
inflammatory diseases of the nervous system (Song et al., 2020), driven by low cost processes, high
reproducibility and reliability, and a large range of sensitivity. This is not only due to the special, suitable
electrical and mechanical property of silicon as a base-used material, but also because of the possibility
of using the technological and design experience acquired within the fabrication of the microelectronic
devices and integrated circuits, for the achievement of the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
(Chircov & Grumezescu, 2022), with even increased spectacular applications in the biomedical field
such as drug synthesis and delivery, microsurgery, microtherapy, diagnostics and prevention, artificial
organs, genome synthesis and sequencing, and cell manipulation and characterization. While the SMM
technology is based on a polysilicon growth process over a silicon dioxide (sacrificial) layer, and its
subsequent removal to achieve thin silicon membranes (Bliat, 1998), the BMM technology obtains it by
using a tridimensional (3D) etching process of the silicon substrate until a boron doped (stopping) layer
(Kovacs et al., 1998; Bliat 1998), the application of both processes being also possible (Lee et al., 1999).
The achievement of the silicon cavity of the capacitive sensors can be obtained by ion-sputtering dry
or wet chemical etching processes, common in the silicon technology (Bliat, 1998). The key property used
in the wet etching technology consists in the substantial decrease of the chemical etching rate at a high
boron concentration in the boron-doped silicon layer (Bohg, 1971), in ethylene diamine-pyrocatechol-
water mixture (EDP), and also in solution of KOH, NaOH, LiOH (Bliat, 1998), in tetramethyl ammonium
hydroxide (TMAH)-based solutions, or TMAH/IPA (isopropyl alcohol), fully compatible with integrated
circuit technologies. In this work a new etching system was used (Merlos et al., 1993), which causes it
to be called a self-limiting/self-stopping process. However, this is only a first approximation, because
the distribution of the boron concentration in the silicon substrate is not uniform, neither near the silicon
surface nor in the bulk. Indeed, after the diffusion process, the boron concentration is a function of the
diffusion depth, so the etching process depends on the variation of the boron concentration in the bulk.
The main problem concerning the achievement of silicon membranes with a certain well-defined thick-
ness according to the design requirements and the sensitivity range of the pressure, is therefore strictly
related to control of the technological process. Such a control requires a practical method to simulate the
boron diffusion profile in silicon, according to the technological used parameters, time and temperature
and also to the type of the diffusion source (Gaiseanu et al, 1997a,b).
The more their importance increases in applications, the more a precision design and technological
control is needed, which should reveal/describe/simulate in advance the technical and technological
characteristics of the final product (Gaiseanu et al., 1997d, Gaiseanu & Esteve, 1999). In this chapter
it is therefore approached an analytical modeling of the boron diffusion in silicon from boron nitride
(BN) and boron tribromide (BBr3) sources, commonly used for this purpose, and a suitable calculation
of the etching rate and etching time for the accurate achievement of silicon membranes of the capacitive
pressure sensors for biomedical applications by micromachining technology. As the present trend in the
fabrication of the biomedical devices, and in particular of the capacitive pressure sensors, is miniatur-
ization, with all the associated advantages, this approach is of a high impact on a further improvements
on this direction, taking into account that independently of the used technology, the processing control
plays a decisive role for the size reduction of these devices (Song et al., 2020), with obvious advantages
also for the technical performance.

2
 

BACKGROUND
A
The capacitive sensors for biomedical applications are informational miniature devices, important because
they are able to measure various physical parameters for monitoring the health of patients (Glascott-Jones,
2009). In particular, the silicon capacitive sensors for biomedical applications are compatible with the
human health, which moreover offer high advantages related to: (i) expertise gained from the fabrica-
tion of microelectronic chips, used in this case to manufacture these sensors, as microelectromechanical
systems (MEMS); (ii) the integration in telematics platforms, allowing electrical processing of data and
remote monitoring, as well as the development of the “Lab-on-chip” platforms, which are more complex
and complete analysis systems of patient’s health (Li, 2008; Lin, 2008).
A capacitive sensor consists basically in a system of electrodes of area A disposed at the distance d
each other, so the value of the capacity can be calculated by the basic formula C=ε(A/d), were ε is the
permittivity of the medium between the electrodes. The MEMs accelerometers are capacitive sensors for
flow measurement in drug delivery, in respiratory functions, for the determination of posture and gait,
of knee bend and other joint angles, or for chemical analysis by the change of the value of the sensitive
dielectric. The gyroscope sensors can be used in inertial applications together with accelerometers, to
control posture and motion of the patients, or in radiation therapy positioning or even in tumor to target
the radiation with more accuracy (Glascott-Jones, 2009).
The capacitive pressure sensors rely on the displacement of a silicon membrane, working as a
suspended electrode with respect to a fixed electrode, which determines a changing capacitor value
between the electrodes, as a function of the external detected pressure (Puers, 1993). With respect to
the piezoresistive counterpars, which are sensitive to stress, the capacitive sensor reveals important ad-
vantages, consisting in less package-induced problems, high sensitivity, low power consumption, better
temperature performance, and less sensitivity to drift. The value of the capacity Co under rest conditions
is obtained from the basic formula Co=ε(A/d), where ε is the permittivity of the medium between the
plates (usually air in this case), A is the area of the membrane and d the distance between the electrodes,
as mentioned above. The value C under dynamic/operative conditions and the sensitivity of the capaci-
tive sensor, determined by the variation ΔC of the capacitive value, depends on its geometrical dimen-
sions (A, d, membrane thickness), so the constructive parameters are decisive for its final performances
(Puers. 1993). The capacitive pressure sensors can be used in various forms in biomedical applications
(Glascott-Jones, 2009) for: (i) direct measurement of blood pressure, the sensor being fitted to catheters
or together with accelerometers which measure the angle or position of the arm, for more accurate pres-
sure measurement through cuff-positioning sensing; (ii) measurement of the respiratory and airflow
pressure; (iii) measurement of the inter-cranial pressure; (iv) early detection of breast cancer, by means
of pressure-mat array, that can detect very small changes in pressure.
Besides the capacitive pressure sensors for biomedical applications, the micromachining technologies
allows the preparing of a large range of miniature devices with various raw materials, with applications
not only in healthcare (Lin, 2008), but also in industry, automations and the automobile field, aerospace
in military and civil aviation, and in consumer electronics fields (Song et al., 2020). The silicon planar
technology offers evident advantages for the fabrication of the microelectromechanic systems (MEMS)
(Chircov C. & Grumezescu, 2022), in particular for the fabrication of the silicon capacitive sensors
(Gaiseanu, 1998a, 2013, 2017), because the relevant micromachining technologies, i.e. the bulk micro-
machining and surface micromachining, benefit of the great experience and expertise achieved in the
fabrication of the microelectronic devices (Gaiseanu, 2013, 2017).

3
Analytical Modeling for Fabrication of Biomedical Pressure Sensors by Bulk Micromachining Technology

Two main silicon-based micromachining technologies were developed and used for the silicon capaci-
tive sensor fabrication (Gaiseanu, 1998a): (1) the surface micromachining (SMM) technology (Bustillo et
al., 1998), compatible with the MOS/CMOS integrated circuits (Sniegowski, & de Boer, 2000) based on
the development of polysilicon layers growth methods on silicon dioxide/silicon substrate, which finally
are used for the achievement of the sensitive working element – the membrane, and the subsequent re-
moval of the silicon dioxide under the silicon layer for the cavity formation; (2) the bulk micromachining
(BMM) technology (Kovacs et al., 1998), consisting in the doping of a silicon layer with boron at high
concentration near the solid solubility and in a chemical etching process from the cavity and membrane
achievement of the capacitive sensor, as it is represented schematically in the small inserted figure in
Fig. 1a, starting from the back side of the silicon wafer substrate till the boron doped layer, which acts as
a stop layer for etching, and which becomes finally the sensing/deflecting membrane element for pres-
sure measurement (Kovacs et al., 1998), compatible also with CMOS technology (Denis et al., 2013).
As the etching rate within the BMM technology depends on the boron concentration (Seidel et al.,
1990), the boron diffusion conditions of the highly-doped silicon layer, used for the stopping of the
chemical etching process, critically determine the final properties of the silicon membrane, in particular
the membrane thickness and induced stress, because the distribution of the boron concentration into the
silicon bulk is a depth-dependent parameter (Gaiseanu,1983a,b,c 1984a, 1985). For a precise design and
an accurate preparation of the silicon membranes by BBM technology, major attention should be paid
therefore to the precise design and control of the diffusion and the subsequent chemical etching process,
as it is presented in this chapter.

ANALYTICAL SOLUTION OF THE BORON DIFFUSION PROFILE

IN SILICON FOR SENSITIVE MEMBRANES ACHIEVEMENT

The silicon capacitive sensors with thin pressure-sensitive membranes, suitable for biomedical applica-
tions, fabricated by BMM technology, consist in a cavity which allows the membrane flexion under the
pressure action, obtained by a controlled etching process from the back side of a silicon wafer substrate,
to a highly boron-doped layer, with role of stop-etching effect, as shown in the schematic representation
in the inserted drawing in the right side of Fig.1a. Because the chemical etching rate and time depend on
the doping profile in the silicon, it is necessary to strictly control the technological parameters to obtain
reproducible thickness of the silicon membrane and to eliminate the tensile or compressive stress induced
by the high doping concentration gradient of the diffusion profile, inducing membrane deformations. At
high boron concentration, necessary to note a decrease of the etching process, higher than the intrinsic
carrier concentration ni at the diffusion temperature (Fig. 1a), the boron diffusion itself depends on
concentration (Fair, 1975; Gaiseanu, 1982), either during the diffusion from liquid BBr3 (Guo & Chen,
1982) or solid Boron-doped silicon glass (B2O3) (Vick & White, 1969), or BN sources (Gaiseanu, 1983a).
However, in spite of remarkable efforts to express the boron diffusion experimental data in a unique
“universal” boron diffusion profile in silicon, independent of time and temperature, if represented as
a normalized function (C/Cj) vs. (x/xj), no unique curve was obtained for the diffusion from oxidiz-
ing (oxygen assisted) sources like BBr3 (oxygen in the diffusion furnace) or B2O3, and non-oxidizing
boron nitride (BB) sources. As mentioned above, the universal profile is defined and represented as C/
Cj vs. x/xj, where C is the boron concentration, Cj a concentration corresponding with the depth xj in
a lower-doped region assimilated with the depth junction, where the diffusion concentration would be
non-concentration dependent (particularly Cj = 1018cm-3 or less).

4
 

As can be seen in Fig.1b, instead of a unique curve, there are obtained two distinct universal profiles,
depending on the diffusion source: after diffusion from oxidizing BBr3 and B2O3 sources, a universal A
profile shows a dependence of the diffusion coefficient D proportional (~) with C1/2 for C>ni, while after
diffusion from BN (non-oxidizing source) a profile showing that D~C it is obtained.

Figure 1. a) Boron diffusion profiles in silicon, experimentally determined by the electrical (sheet re-
sistivity) method and by the chemical (emission spectrography) technique, represented with data from
(Gaiseanu, 1985)), and simulated by analytical relations presented in this work (the solid line continued
by the dashed line), after the diffusion from BN source at 1100°C, 1150°C and 1200°C for 120min, and
from BBr3 source at 1050°C for 20min. (compared with data from Guo and Chen (1982)) and at 1100°C
for 60min. b) Normalized boron diffusion profiles C/Co vs. x/xj experimentally determined after diffusion
from BN sources at 1100°C for 60 min. by SIMS technique (Gaiseanu et al, 1998c) and at 1132°C for
60min and 240min earlier reported (Frohmather & Baumbauer, 1980) by sheet resistivity, and from B2O3
and BBr3 source reported by Vick and Whait (1969), and Guo and Chen (1982) respectively, determined
by electrical sheet resistivity measurements, compared with the normalized profiles theoretically deduced
in this paper for D=Do(C/Co) and D=Do(C/Co)1/2 respectively.

In Fig. 1a and b are represented comparative graphs with experimental data after diffusion from BN
sources and after diffusion from BBr3 source and B2O3 deposited source. The solid lines represent the
theoretical profiles, calculated according to the below presentation, one type of profile taking into account
a dependence of the boron diffusion coefficient D on C as D~C and another one as D~C1/2, respectively.
In a previous analysis of the boron diffusion profile in silicon (Fair, 1975), a vacancy-assisted dif-
fusion mechanism was supposed to operate during the diffusion, enhancing on the high concentration
range (C>ni) the diffusion process due to the contribution of the mono-charged vacancies. However,
the analyzed diffusion profiles data do not obey the corresponding shape, as can be seen also from Fig.
1. This could be explained by the participation to the diffusion process of the self-interstitial atoms
(Gösele et al., 1980) induced by silicon oxidation of the surface, as was shown earlier (Gaiseanu, 2013),
determining a “diffusion tail” (Morehead & Lever, 1986). During the diffusion from the BN source,
the chemistry of the silicon surface is different, no oxygen atoms participate to the chemical reactions,
mainly because a thin silicon nitride layer formed at the silicon surface prevents the silicon oxidation, so
only a vacancies based mechanism is really evidential in this case. Within the high concentration range
C>ni (ni the intrinsic concentration at the diffusion temperature), the positively charged vacancies would
enhance the diffusion of the negatively ionized boron atoms so that D~C, whereas within the intrinsic

5
Analytical Modeling for Fabrication of Biomedical Pressure Sensors by Bulk Micromachining Technology

range region (C<ni), the diffusion would be performed with a diffusion coefficient non-depending on
concentration, i.e. D~const, carried by neutral vacancies.
According to the above discussed results, it is therefore proper to distinguish between the diffusion
from oxygen and non-oxygen related boron diffusion in silicon and to approach adequately the simulation
of the boron diffusion in silicon at high concentration in each of these two cases. Taking into account
these observations, analytical solutions are presented, applicable to the diffusion from the BN as non-
oxidizing source, and for the chemical oxidative diffusion sources like BBr3 and B2O3, taking into account
the suitable dependence of the diffusion coefficient on concentration in the high concentration range,
i.e. D~C and D~C1/2, respectively. For this, it is convenient to express the diffusion coefficient of boron
in silicon on the high concentration range as D=Do(C/Co) during the diffusion from BN source and as
D=Do(C/Co)1/2 during the diffusion from oxidizing sources, where Do=D(x=0) and Co=C(x=0), which
is the surface concentration, corresponding habitually with the limit solubility of boron in silicon (Vick
& White, 1969). The diffusion depth could be also expressed in a normalized form as X=x/2(Dot)1/2 (t is
the diffusion time), suitable to approach the diffusion from infinite source (the contact with the chemical
source is permanent), and the concentration normalized to the surface value as c=C/Co.
With these notations, the diffusion equation with partial derivatives in x and t is reduced to an uni-
dimensional problem expressible only in X, i.e. the initial diffusion equation:

   DoC   C   C
    (1)
x   Co   x   t

becomes:

d  cdc   dc 
   2 X   (2)
dX  dX   dX 

To find a solution of the non-linear differential equation of the second order given by the relation (2)
is a difficult task (Gaiseanu, 2022b,c), but this is however possible, expressing the solution as a series
of terms, which prove to show finally a very rapid convergence. Moreover, it should be note that this
equation shows a fundamental particularity: because the diffusion flux of impurities expressed in the
normalized form by dc/dX decreases as c decreases (Gaiseanu, 1984b), a finite value of X could be
determined, where both the flux and the concentration become null. Such a behavior is different in the
diffusion described by a constant diffusion coefficient, with a solution represented by the well-known
erfc-type function, because in this case not a finite value of x corresponds to c=0, i.e. the concentration
in the silicon bulk, faraway from the silicon surface tends to zero (c → 0), only when x tends indefinitely
to infinite (x →∞).
As the diffusion flux on the high concentration range (in this case carried by the charged vacancies)
becomes zero at a certain value of X (very near the depth where C ≈ ni, as it is shown below), the diffu-
sion will continue only by means of a constant diffusion coefficient, naturally supported by the neutral
vacancies, when the concentration is below ni (Ci<ni). We can therefore approximate the solutions on
the two diffusion regions by the following expression:

6
 

 1

  2  2  1  2
C  Co 1    X    X (3) A
 3 2 
 

on the high concentration range (C>ni) and by

erfc  rX 
Ci  ni (4)
erfc  rXi 

on the intrinsic range (C<ni), where erfc is the complementary error function, defined as: erfcz=[1 – 2
/√π∫exp(‑z2)dz] in the interval of values [0-z].
These solutions are coupled by the condition:

2   ni  
Xi  1  1  3 1   (5)
3   Co  

where Xi corresponds with C(Xi)=ni, r = (Do/Di)1/2 and Di is the intrinsic boron diffusion coefficient,
not concentration dependent at ni=Ci.
As mention above, the solution of equation (2) was deduced as series, showing a very rapid convergence
and a finite value Xo=√(2/3) for C=0. At the diffusion temperatures T (°K), the corresponding values
Xi are very close to Xo, where the concentration gradient strongly decreases to the limiting null value.
Rel. (3) is simple, but sufficiently accurate to simulate the boron diffusion profile with an approxi-
mation better than 1%. The good agreement between the theoretical profile and the experimental data
represented in Fig. 1a and b is very good, well supporting this analytical model. In Fig.1a is shown
the boron diffusion profile after diffusion of 120 min. at 1100°C from BN source, determined by two
methods: the electrical sheet resistivity technique to measure the concentration of the free electrical
charge carriers, and by emission spectrography, to determine the total amount of boron in each removed
layer. As it can be seen from this figure, the entire boron amount is electrically active, participating to
the electrical conduction. For the application in the etching process for the silicon membrane achieve-
ment, the highly doped region is actually very important, because just in this region defined by C>ni,
the decreasing of the etching rate with the boron doping concentration starts to be significant, as it will
be shown in the next section.
An accurate expression for ni seems to be still under debate (Coudere et al., 2014), but for the diffusion
purposes, the used data for the intrinsic carrier concentration were calculated from a formula reported
relatively recently, claiming accurate results (Misiakos & Tsamakis, 1993):

K 
2.54

ni  5.29 10  T 
19
 exp  6726 / T  K  cm 3 (6)
 300 

From the experimental data on the intrinsic diffusion coefficient Di and solid solubility (Vick and
White, 1969), the following expressions were used for calculations:

7
Analytical Modeling for Fabrication of Biomedical Pressure Sensors by Bulk Micromachining Technology

 1.7eV  2
Di  6 107 exp    cm / sec . (7)
 kT  K 

 0.713eV  3
Co  1.11023 exp    cm (8)
 kT  K 

where k is the Planck constant, the concentrations ni and Co are expressed in cm-3 and the diffusion
coefficient Di in cm2/sec.
The diffusion from BBr3 source is assisted actually by an oxidation process to form a B2O3 glass on
the silicon surface, which becomes an infinite diffusion source for the boron atoms, but also a source
of self-interstitial atoms, contributing to the boron diffusion process and to the additional formation of
an enhanced diffusion. The diffusion profile in this case is expressible in the high concentration range
(C>ni) taking into account a form D=Do(C/Co)1/2 as a consequence of a combined vacancy-interstitial
assisted mechanism of the diffusion process. With this form of the diffusion coefficient and the same
signification for Di, Do, Xo and ni, the profile simulation of the boron diffusion from oxidizing chemi-
cal sources on the high concentration range (C>ni) could be expressed by the following solution of the
diffusion equation:

1
 1 2 1
C  Co[(1    X    X ²]2 (9)
6 3

which shows that the concentration becomes null for Xo= √(3/2).
In Fig. 1a are represented the simulation results of the boron diffusion from BBr3, an oxidation-assisted
process (solid line) for 60 min. at 1100°C and at 1050°C for 20 min. diffusion, which are compared with
experimental data collected from ref. (Guo & Chen, 1982), showing a very good agreement, and from
BN source for 120min. at 1100°C, 1150°C and 1200°C. For the coherence of the simulation of the dif-
fusion profiles (solid lines in Fig. 1a), either from oxidizing and non-oxidizing sources, obtained by the
calculation with the analytical relations presented above, the solid solubility data reported earlier (Vick
& White, 1969) were used, because within a study on the solid solubility recently reported (Mostafa &
Medra, 2017), it was shown that these data are well supported by more than one documental source.
The solid curves represented in Fig.1b were obtained by using rel. (3) and (9) for the simulation of
the universal profile on the high concentration range after diffusion from non-oxidizing and oxidizing
sources respectively, where X was substituted by Xo(X/Xj), which is actually expressed by √(2/3)(X/Xj)
and √(3/2)(X/Xj) for non-oxidizing (BN) source and oxidizing ones respectively, as explained below.
The dashed lines in the same figure represents the diffusion profiles in the intrinsic range C<ni at the
diffusion temperature.
The quantity Xj can be calculated for a corresponding value Cj from the implicit equations (3) and
(9), or directly from the following solutions of the diffusion equation (2), obtained by using a conversion
of the present variable X into a function f written as X= f (C/Co) (Gaiseanu, 2013, 2017), which are:

X   C   C  
 1  0.78    0.152   ² (10)
Xo   Co   Co  

8
 

for diffusion from non-oxidizing (BN) source (Xo=√(2/3)), and

A
 1 3

X   C 2  C   C 2 
 1  0.737    0 .181    0 .082   (11)
Xo   Co   Co   Co  
 

for oxidizing ones, with Xo=√(3/2).

If in these relations C/Co<<1 is considered, as is the case near Xo, where Co=0, then Xj=Xo in
each case. If a similar representation for another value of Xj is desired, then the explicit relations (10)
and (11) should be used, as it was shown above.

APPLICATION FOR THE SENSITIVE MEMBRANE

ACHIEVEMENT: CALCULATION OF THE ETCHING RATE AND
TIME, DISCUSSION AND FURTHER PERSPECTIVES

The results obtained above for the analytical modeling of the boron diffusion profile both after diffu-
sion from oxidizing and non-oxidizing diffusion sources are used for the calculation of the etching rate
and etching time during the chemical etching process for the achievement of the thin silicon sensitive
membrane of the silicon capacitive sensors for biomedical applications by BMM technology as follows.
During the chemical etching process, the etching front advances to the silicon bulk with a constant
etching rate, which starts to decrease as the concentration of the boron atoms increases (Gaiseanu et
al., 1998b,1994). Therefore, the etching rate depends gradually on the boron doping concentration of
the doped silicon layer, so for the simulation of this process, the analytical expressions of the boron
diffusion profile presented above are corroborated with earlier obtained results regarding the etching
rate as a function of the p-type silicon doping concentration and various types of chemical sources and
temperature values of the etching solutions (Seidel et al., 1990). As was previously shown, the etching
rate R of the uniformly boron-doped (p-type) silicon layers can be expressed as a function of the boron
concentration by the relation:

4

R   C  
a a
 [1  1  1  (10)
Ri   Co  
 

where Ri represents the etching rate of the low-doped silicon substrate, Cc is a critical value in the range
(2-4)×1019 cm-3, which depends on the etching temperature Te and on the concentration of the etching
solution of the alkaline type (KOH, NaOH, LiOH) or of EDP, and “a” is a shape parameter. A value a=4
for 10% KOH (NaOH, LiOH) and ethylene-diamine-based (EDP) solution was obtained, and a value
a=2 was obtained for 24% alkaline-type solutions (Seidel et al., 1990).
Taking into account that the etching front advances to the silicon doped surface along the diffusion
direction, but in the contrary sense, with a rate R=dx/dt (Gaiseanu et al. 1993), the chemical etching
time t necessary to etch a boron diffusion layer can be deduced as following:

9
Analytical Modeling for Fabrication of Biomedical Pressure Sensors by Bulk Micromachining Technology

Figure 2. a) The simulated R/Ri ratio and Δt/τ during the chemical etching process of the boron silicon
layers diffused from BBr3; b) The simulated R/Ri and Δt/τ of the chemical etching of silicon layers after
diffusion from BN at 1100°C, 1150°C and 1200°C for 60 min and 120min respectively, in an etching
solution at 110°C.

1 1
x R   dx  xj  R   dx 
t             (11)
xj Ri
   Ri  x  Ri   Ri 

and can be therefore finally expressed as:

 4 4

t  1   x   C  x  
a a
x   C  x  
a a

  xj   o   Cc  
    1     dx |x[ 0, xi ]  xi 1     dx |x[ xi , xj ] (12)
  Cc  
    

where xj is the junction depth used in rel. (12) as a normalizing parameter, Δt = t-to (to – the initial
moment at xj boundary), and τ is defined as τ=xj/Ri. As Ce is a critical point of reaction, where this
becomes significantly diminished by the boron doping, the contribution of the second term in rel. (12) on
the intrinsic variation range x∈[xi,xj] is actually negligible, because Cc and ni vary in approximatively
the same range of values at the examined and useful diffusion temperatures. Therefore, for the practical
calculation, xj can actually be substituted by xi.
The calculation of the etching rate and etching time was performed for silicon layers doped with
boron during the diffusion at 1100°C, 1150°C and 1200°C, both after the diffusion from oxidizing and
non-oxidizing sources. In Fig. 2a and 2b are shown the variation curves of the ratio R/Ri with the depth
x into the silicon boron-doped layer after diffusions from BBr3 or B2O3 oxidizing source and BN source
respectively, at 1100oC, 1150oC and 1200oC, by using a chemical etching solution for which a = 4 and
a=2, and the corresponding variation Δt/τ of the etching necessary time. The value of the etching tem-
perature of solution for the etching process simulated in Fig. 2 is 110oC, for which Cc=3.0x1019 cm-3.
The experimental values of Cc data previously reported (Seidel et al., 1990), were fitted and expressed
as a function of the reaction temperature by the following relation:

 0.025eV  3
Cc  5.5 1019 exp    cm (13)
 kT K 
o

10
 

which allows to calculate Cc for any temperature of etching solution.

From Fig. 2a and 2b a slower variation of the etching process can be observed in a solution correspond- A
ing to a=2, but both solutions (a=2 and a=4) are efficient for the silicon membrane fabrication, showing
values of about 103 times higher near silicon surface than the values corresponding to Ri in the silicon
bulk. Moreover, it can also be seen that the increase of the diffusion temperature allows to obtain larger
values of the thickness of the micro-mechanical elements, if the same etching duration is considered,
and an increasing of the etching duration, if the same value of the thickness of the membrane is taken
into account. However, after diffusion at higher temperatures, larger widths of the silicon membranes
could be obtained for the same time of the etching process, predictable from rel. (12).
Although the variation of the etching rate as a function of the etching solution type is not too large
in both cases represented in Fig. 2a an 2b, the control of the fine differences is very important not only
to sharply define the thickness of the micro-mechanical elements, but also to eliminate the diffused re-
gions where the concentration gradient is sufficiently large to induce mechanical stress into the silicon
membrane. However, it is to be note that by diffusion from BN source the doping gradient of the boron
diffusion profile are lower near the silicon surface in the highly doped region than after diffusion in
oxidizing conditions, as it can be observed from Fig. 1. The high diffusion time, the lower diffusion
gradient is obtained in the highly doped region, so the simulation permits a precise design and an ac-
curate and correct managing of the etching process depending on the required properties of the silicon
membranes. The suitable control both of the silicon membrane thickness and of the residual stress inside
of the membrane depend therefore not only on the diffusion temperature, time and the characteristics of
the etching process, but also on the boron diffusion source, and the simulation results presented above
allow a suitable management of the appropriate technological parameters, serving also as predictable
data for the design of the silicon membrane in this case, and also of any micro-mechanical elements and
device structures obtained by bulk micromachining technology in a more general case.
The analytical modeling presented above is therefore a powerful tool for the design and fabrication not
only of the capacitive sensors for biomedical applications by BBM technology, necessary to converge to
smaller dimensions, but also in any other application field based on membrane-designed devices or other
microstrucures. This modeling exhibits the merit to fully cover the design of the technological processes
and control them on the fabrication line. The device design is substantially sustained, because this could
be firmly assisted by precise simulations of the boron diffusion and chemical etching, which are the
key processes to assure not only the geometrical parameters of the membrane, but also to minimize the
residual stress induced by concentration gradients during the boron diffusion in the silicon membranes
(Gaiseanu, 2020a,b), allowing in this way the accuracy of the desired properties of the device. It is also
remarkable to observe the deep implication of the material science and technological engineering into
the design, preparation and fabrication of the MEMS structures, as part of informational devices devel-
oped by microelectronic processes, dedicated to the measurement of physical/mechanical parameters.
Similar calculations in membranes obtained by surface micromachining (SMM) technology and
the implication in the modeling of the suitable test structures (Gaiseanu, 2022d, 2019c), also allow the
required results for a suitable control and accuracy of the design and technologic process of fabrication
(Gaiseanu and Esteve, 1999), for phosphorus diffusion in silicon (Gaiseanu, 1986, 1990) and polysilicon
(Gaiseanu et al, 1997c,d) layers. The application of the analytical modeling of the boron diffusion can
be referred not only to MEMS devices, but also to a very large category of microelectronic products on
silicon material, as the micro technology nowadays is largely based, because the boron diffusion in silicon
is the most popular and largely used for the preparation/fabrication of the microelectronic devices and
integrated circuits and microprocessors. This modeling, covering the possibility to use both oxidizing

11
Analytical Modeling for Fabrication of Biomedical Pressure Sensors by Bulk Micromachining Technology

(BBr3, B2O3) and non-oxidizing BN sources, and to simulate the boron diffusion process, constitutes a
substantial contribution to a precise design of the silicon-based microelectronic devices and accurate
fabrication processes. The high versatility and the operational capability of this modeling consist also
in the possibility to a priori calculate the boron diffusion profile under concrete circumstances (diffu-
sion time, temperature, diffusion sources), both taking the diffusion depth or concentration as a variable
parameter, allowing the rapid calculation of the concentration at a certain diffusion depth (rels. (3) and
(9)), or the junction depths at a certain concentration (rels. (10) and (11)), according to the necessities.
Such a versatility is a substantial advantage of this powerful analytical tool, for accurate process control
and immediate and right intervention on the fabrication line, for rapid adjustment of the fabrication
process parameters.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

This modelling opens a large category of future investigations addressed to the optimization process both
for the fabrication of the silicon capacitive sensors for biomedical applications by bulk micromachining
technology and other applications, using the diffusion from oxidizing or non-oxidizing diffusion source,
as a function of the desired characteristics of the final device, and of the local technological capabilities.
An optimization process could include the following steps: (i) depending on the domain of the pressure
measurement and of the desired sensitivity of the capacitive sensor, the necessary geometrical charac-
teristics of the silicon membrane and cavity could be established; (ii) the next step would consist in the
choice of a boron diffusion source and of a suitable etching solution, according to the local possibilities;
(iii) the optimization process would consists in the testing of various ranges of diffusion temperatures/
diffusion times; (iv) followed by the application of the etching process, and the observation of its evolu-
tion during the time, in order to obtain a suitable layer with boron concentration as uniform as possible,
and with a well defined thickness.

CONCLUSION

For a precise design and accurate fabrication of the silicon capacitive pressure sensors for biomedical
applications by bulk micromachining technology, the distinction between the boron diffusion processes
using non-oxidizing (BN) and oxidizing (BBr3, B2O3) sources was analyzed, showing that in the first case
the boron diffusion profile can be calculated taking into account a dependence of the boron diffusion
coefficient D on the boron concentration C of the form D=Do(C/Co) as predicted by the vacancies-
induced diffusion mechanisms, and of the form C=Co(D/Do)1/2, as a results of a combined self-interstitial/
vacancy mechanism of the boron diffusion in the second case. The agreement between the experimental
and analytical results is very good, well supporting the theoretical models.
The obtained solutions of the diffusion equations on the high concentration range, show simple and
accurate expressions for the determination of the diffusion profiles in silicon, and can be used as suitable
tools for further evaluation of the chemical etching rate and etching time for the precise design and ac-
curate fabrication of the silicon membranes and other micro-mechanical elements for MEMS structures
by BMM technology, after the boron diffusion from each type of diffusion source.
The derived expressions to calculate the chemical etching rate and the etching time allow an appro-
priate and fine-tuning control of the etching process as a function of the variation of the boron diffusion

12
 

concentration in silicon after diffusion at different temperatures, time duration and diffusion chemical
sources. This demonstrates the high applicability of the analytical results in a large range of variation of A
the technological parameters, serving both for the suitable management of the chemical etching process
and the device design of the micro-mechanical structures.
It was shown that besides the accurate control of the membrane thickness and the technological
parameters, the presented results allow strict control of the residual stress in the silicon membranes,
responsible for micro-mechanical deformations, and the corresponding elimination of the stressed silicon
doped regions.
These results can be applied to a large category of MEMS device working with membranes or
equivalent micro-mechanical elements fabricated by BMM technology, and to many other silicon-based
informational microelectronic devices, working with high boron-doped layers, from simple junction
diodes and transistors to integrated circuits and microprocessors at a very large integration scale.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

To my colleagues and friends, Prof. Dr. Dimitris Tsoukalas (Athens), Prof. Dr. Jaume Esteve (Barcelona),
Prof. Dr. Hans Richter (Frankfurt/Oder), Prof. Dr. Joannis Stoemenos (Thessaloniki), to all my other
colleagues and collaborators.
To the Romanian Academy and Scientists.
Special thanks to Prof. Dr. Alex Bennet (USA) for English revision.
Special thanks to IGI-Global Publishing House and to its President Lindsay Wertman, for the profes-
sional publication and coordination.
To Adrian Gaiseanu, an exemplar professional, father and sun.
In the memory of my loved parents, Emeritus Professors Emanoil and Florica Gaiseanu, of my brother
Professor Constantin Gaiseanu and of all my family members.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Big Data: A computational domain of artificial intelligence for analysis and extraction of information
from very large/complex data sets, which cannot be processed by the traditional application software.
Useful in various fields in management, industry, healthcare, and any other domains for predictions
(Filip, 2020).
BMM: Bulk micromachining refers to the processes and/or technology able to produce microme-
chanical structures and/or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), by 3D digging intervention in the

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Analytical Modeling for Fabrication of Biomedical Pressure Sensors by Bulk Micromachining Technology

material bulk, usually by wet (chemical) or dry (sputtering-driven) etching of the material, to obtain
various mechanical components of such devices and systems (Bliat, 1998).
Concentration Gradient: The variation of the distribution of concentration of an impurity in a
material, in this case silicon, with the depth, and can be expressed by the tangent to the diffusion profile
(Gaiseanu et al., 1983b).
Diffusion Coefficient: A characteristic parameter defined within the frame of the diffusion laws
in surface units on time unit (cm2/sec.), showing how fast an impurity diffuses into the material bulk
(Wikipedia, diffusion coefficient, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_diffusivity), and can be calcu-
lated/deduced from the analysis of the diffusion profile (Gaiseanu, 1983b,c;1985).
Diffusion Profile: The variation of the impurity concentration with the depth into the silicon volume;
usually represented through a cross section of the wafer. During the diffusion process, the silicon surface
is exposed to the diffusion source, so at the surface the concentration attains the solid solubility limit,
decreasing to the silicon volume.
Emission Spectrography: Consists in the dosing of the boron amount by emission spectrography
after the chemical etching of a thin surface layer and the drying of the solution, to leave only the inter-
ested components (Gaiseanu, 1985).
Intrinsic Carrier Concentration: The equilibrium concentration ni between the electrical charge
carriers in semiconductor materials like silicon, generated by the thermal energy, when the semicon-
ductor material is not diffused (“doped”) with other impurities (Maurya, 2017; Gaiseanu, 2013, 2017).
Junction Depth: The depth into the silicon bulk, obtained by a boron diffusion or any other doping
Impurity diffusion, where the doping (impurity) concentration becomes equal with the concentration
of the silicon substrate, which is doped with impurities of an opposite type of carrier charge. This is
because the boron atoms in the 4-valence silicon lattice generate free holes positive charges, so a p-type
layer, due to its 3-valence behavior, while phosphorous a p-type layer, due to its 5-valence behavior,
generating free electrons through the silicon lattice (Wikipedia, p-n Junction. https://en.m.wikipedia.
org/wiki/P%E2%80%93n_junction).
MEMS: is A microelectromechanical system, compatible with the miniaturized microelectronic
structures, able to respond both to mechanical and electrical input signals (Bliat, 1998).
Planar Technology: Consists in the processing of one face of the so called silicon wafer, which is a
disc with a thickness of about 250μm or more, diameter depending on the application, so that simultane-
ously hundreds or thousands of devices can be obtained (Bliat, 1998).
Sheet Resistivity Measurement: An electrical method to determine the surface resistivity of silicon
diffused layers by using the so called 4-point method to inject a current and to collect the voltage for the
calculation corresponding resistivity. This measurement determines only the electrically active impurity
concentration; in this case, the boron concentration (Gaiseanu et al., 1983b).
SIMS: Signifies Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, which is a method, able to mea-
sure the quantity of impurities in a very small (near surface) volume of material, primar-
ily bombarded with a ionic beam to sputter secondary ions, analyzed finally with a mass spec-
trometer to find the composition and evaluate the quantity of a containec impurity (Wikipedia,
Secondary ion mass spectrometry. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_ion_mass_spectrome
try; Gaiseanu et al., 1998c).
SMM: Surface micromachining refers to the processes and/or technology addressed only to the
silicon surface, not to the bulk, by using the polysilicon deposition processes on a previously grown
silicon dioxide, which becomes a sacrificial (removed) layer, to obtain a cavity between polysilicon and
silicon substrate (Bliat, 1998).

18
 

Solid Solubility: The maximum value which the concentration of a diffusion impurity can attain in a
solid material at the diffusion temperature, in this case silicon, so that the base material does not change A
its composition (Vick & White, 1969).
Vacancy and Interstitial Atom: The vacancy is a unoccupied site after an atom of the silicon lat-
tice leaves this site due to the thermal stimulation to move through silicon lattice as an interstitial atom.
The oxidation process generates self-interstitial (silicon) atoms due to the mismatch between the silicon
dioxide and silicon lattice (Gösele et al., 1980); contributing besides vacancies to the impurity diffusion
(Gaiseanu, 2013, 2017).

19