ECE 449

Microdevices and Micromachining

Technology

1
 Early MEMS
• VLSI allows us to create very small
computational (electronic) devices.
– Non- moving electronic circuits
– Created (demonstrated) the tools we can use to create
small machines

• Richard Feynman, “There is plenty of room at

the bottom.” December 29th 1959, Cal. Tech.
http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html

2
 Early MEMS (2)
• Create movable electromechnical structures at
the microscale.
– Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)

• Early work:
– White: Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Device – 1965

– Nathanson: Resonant Gate Transistor - 1967

– Pedersen: Silicon as a Mechanical Material - 1982

3
4
SAW Device

5
 MEMS Devices

• Accelerometers
– Gyroscopes

• Inkjet Printer Heads

6
 MEMS Devices (2)

• Digital Light Processors (DLP)

• Resonators

7
 MEMS Devices (3)

• Pressure Sensors

• Microphones

8
 MEMS Devices (4)

• Microfluidics

9
MEMS Devices (5)

10
MEMS Devices (6)

11
Nathanson, 1967
12
Nathanson, 1967
13
Yole Développement, MEMS Market Analysis, 2013 14
Yole Développement, MEMS Market Analysis, 2013 15
Yole Développement, MEMS Market Analysis, 2013 16
 Why MEMS/Microsystems
• In general two reasons:
– Dramatically lower cost
$ 20K / wafer

1 mm  $ 0.3 / device

300 mm 1 mm

– But also enable novel functionality

• Complexity in a smaller form factor

17
Service d'Enseignement sur Mesure Médiatisé, 2004
 Cost Analysis of MEMS
• Microfabrication is a massively parallel fabrication
process
– Thousands of die on a single wafer
– Wafers processed in batches (often 25 at a time)

Definition
Die: small piece of a substrate on which the MEMS or
CMOS device has been fabricated

18
 Cost Analysis of MEMS
• Identical with cost benefit of semiconductor
manufacturing:
fixed cost
Cost per device = variable cost +
volume

cost of die + cost of die test + cost of packaging

Variable cost =
final test yield

cost of wafer
cost of die =
dies per wafer X die yield

19
Cost Analysis of MEMS
cost of wafer
cost of die =
dies per wafer X die yield

20
 Cost Analysis of MEMS
cost of wafer
cost of die =
dies per wafer X die yield

No. of good die per wafer

Die Yield =
Total number of die per wafer

21
Types/Categories of Microdevices

22
23
24
 Transducers
• A coupling point between different energy
domains
– Most MEMS devices contain one or more
transducers
– Most commonly coupling between electrical and
mechanical domains

Electrical Mechanical
Transducer

25
 Examples of transducers
– Piezoelectric
• Voltage (charge) → strain
• Applications:
– Actuators, microphones, speakers
– Energy harvesters
IMEC
– Thermoelectric
• Voltage → temperature difference
• Applications:
– Coolers, temperature sensors
– Energy harvesters
Micropelt
– Capacitive
• capacitance → displacement
• Applications:
– Displacement sensors
– Energy harvesters 26
Example Equivalent Circuits

27
 Surface vs. Bulk Micromachining
• Like VLSI structures MEMS are fabricated on a
Substrate
– Often called handle wafer
• Two major categories:
– Surface micromachining
– Bulk micromachining

28
 Surface Micromachining
• Derived from VLSI fabrication, original MEMS process
• Structures fabricated using layer deposited (and later etched)
on top of a handle substrate

1)

2)

3)
Sandia National Laboratory

29
 Surface Micromachining

MEMSCAP, PolyMUMPS Design Handbook

30
 Surface Micromachining
• Advantages:
– Small feature sizes
– complex geometry possible
– Other inexpensive substrates possible five polysilicon layers

– Monolithic integration with microelectronic components possible

• Challenges:
– Cross-layer conformity unless planarization
– Limited thickness and separation
– Stress

31
 Bulk Micromachining
• Features are etched into the substrate
• Often can use properties of silicon to our advantage
• Can be combined with surface micromachining
• Often used with anisotropic etch and silicon on insulator (SOI)
process

32
 Bulk Micromachining
• Advantages
– Easy to create membranes, cavities
– Large mass or structures
– Generally lower stress

• Disadvantages
– Simpler process
– Issues with long etch times
• Masking, bonding
– Larger feature sizes (aspect ration problem)

Surface and bulk micromachining are really just different tools in our MEMS
toolbox
33