EE6007 MICRO ELECTRO MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

LT P C
300 3

OBJECTIVES
To provide knowledge of semiconductors and solid mechanics to fabricate MEMS devices.
To educate on the rudiments of Micro fabrication techniques.
To introduce various sensors and actuators
To introduce different materials used for MEMS
To educate on the applications of MEMS to disciplines beyond Electrical and Mechanical
engineering.
UNIT I INTRODUCTION 9
Intrinsic Characteristics of MEMS Energy Domains and Transducers- Sensors and Actuators
Introduction to Micro fabrication - Silicon based MEMS processes New Materials
Review of Electrical and Mechanical concepts in MEMS Semiconductor devices Stress
and strain analysis Flexural beam bending- Torsional deflection.
UNIT II SENSORS AND ACTUATORS-I 9
Electrostatic sensors Parallel plate capacitors Applications Inter-digitated Finger
capacitor Comb drive devices Micro Grippers Micro Motors - Thermal Sensing and
Actuation Thermal expansion Thermal couples Thermal resistors Thermal Bimorph Applications Magnetic Actuators Micro-magnetic components Case studies of MEMS in
magnetic actuators- Actuation using Shape Memory Alloys.
UNIT III SENSORS AND ACTUATORS-II 9
Piezo-resistive sensors Piezo-resistive sensor materials - Stress analysis of mechanical
elements Applications to Inertia, Pressure, Tactile and Flow sensors Piezoelectric sensors
and actuators piezoelectric effects piezoelectric materials Applications to Inertia ,
Acoustic, Tactile and Flow sensors.
UNIT IV MICROMACHINING 9
Silicon Anisotropic Etching Anisotrophic Wet Etching Dry Etching of Silicon Plasma
Etching Deep Reaction Ion Etching (DRIE) Isotropic Wet Etching Gas Phase Etchants
Case studies - Basic surface micro machining processes Structural and Sacrificial Materials
Acceleration of sacrificial Etch Striction and Antistriction methods LIGA Process
Assembly of 3D MEMS Foundry process.

UNIT V POLYMER AND OPTICAL MEMS 9

Polymers in MEMS Polimide - SU-8 - Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) PDMS PMMA
Parylene Fluorocarbon - Application to Acceleration, Pressure, Flow and Tactile sensorsOptical MEMS Lenses and Mirrors Actuators for Active Optical MEMS.
TOTAL: 45 PERIODS
OUTCOMES:
Ability to understand the operation of micro devices, micro systems and their applications.
Ability to design the micro devices, micro systems using the MEMS fabrication process.
TEXT BOOKS:
1. Chang Liu, Foundations of MEMS, Pearson Education Inc., 2012.
2. Stephen D Senturia, Microsystem Design, Springer Publication, 2000.
3. Tai Ran Hsu, MEMS & Micro systems Design and Manufacture Tata McGraw Hill,
New Delhi, 2002.
REFERENCES:
1. Nadim Maluf, An Introduction to Micro Electro Mechanical System Design, Artech
House, 2000.
2. Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, editor, The MEMS Handbook, CRC press Baco Raton, 2001.
3. Julian w. Gardner, Vijay K. Varadan, Osama O.Awadelkarim, Micro Sensors MEMS and
Smart Devices, John Wiley & Son LTD, 2002.
4. James J.Allen, Micro Electro Mechanical System Design, CRC Press Publisher, 2005.
5.Thomas M.Adams and Richard A.Layton, Introduction MEMS, Fabrication and
Application,
Springer, 2010.

UNIT I INTRODUCTION MEMS

PART - A
1. Define miniaturization.
The length scale of typical MEMS devices generally ranges from 1m to 1cm.
Small dimensions give rise to many operational advantages, such as soft springs,
high resonance frequency, greater sensitivity and low thermal mass. From a
practical point of view, smaller device footprint leads to more devices per wafer
and greater economy scale. Hence the cost of MEMS devices generally scales
favorably with miniaturization.
2. How a scaling law of spring constant is expressed?
The stiffness of a cantilever is defined by its spring constant. Identify the scaling
law governing the stiffness of a cantilever with length, width and thickness
denoted as l,w and t.
The performance merit of interest in this case is the spring constant. The spring
constant is expressed as k = Ewt3/ 4 t3
3. Derive a scaling law for the ratio of surface area and the volume of a cube and
discuss the consequences for MEMS design.
Area/ Volume

L2/ L3 = 1/L

4. What is monolithic integration?

The ability to seamlessly integrate mechanical sensors and actuators with
electronics processors and controllers at the single wafer level process flow. (The
word monolithic means one stone. Hence monolithic fabrication means
fabrication on one piece of wafer.
5. How the mems and microelectronics are different from traditional
machining? Justify.
MEMS and microelectronics are also different from traditional machining, in that
multiple copies of identical dies are made on a same wafer. This practice can
contribute to lowering the cost of individual units. Modern lithography systems
and techniques provide not only finely defined features, but also uniformity across
wafers and batches.
6. What is sensor noise?
Noises in MEMS can be attributed to thermal dynamics and practical measurement
science. Noises in MEMS can be attributed to three major sources: electronic
noise, mechanical noise and noise in the circuitry. In MEMS sensors, the major

contribution of electronic noises comes from the following sources the Johnson
noise, the shot noise and 1/f noise.
7. List the different types of noises.

Johnson noise

Gaussian and white noise.

Shot noise (rain-drop-on-a-tin-roof).

1/f noise.

Thermal noise.

Nyquist noise.

Flicker noise (pink noise).

8. How sensor crosstalks should be minimized in practical applications?

A sensor intended for measuring one variable may be sensitive to another physical
variable as well. For example, a strain sensor may have finite sensitivity to
temperature and humidity. An acceleration sensor with sensitivity in one particular
axis may respond to acceleration in other orthogonal axes. Sensor crosstalks
should be minimized in practical applications. Sensitivity to variation of
environment temperature is a major concern of sensor design and should be
minimized for most cases.
9. List the applications of chemical sensors?

Chemical concentration.

pH.

Molecule recognition.

DNA sequence.

DNA hybridization.

Protein construct.

10. What is sensor reliability?

Sensor performance may change over time and when placed under harsh
conditions. Sensors developed for military use, for example, need to satisfy the
military specification (MIL-SPEC).Reliability and trustworthiness of sensors in a
wide temperature range (-55oC to 105oC) is demanded of such sensors.
11. What is photolithography?
The goal of photolithography is to produce fine features on wafer surfaces. A most
common lithography process involves depositing photo-sensitive chemicals (called
photo resists, or simply resists) on a silicon wafer, exposing it with light through a
mask, and removing(develop) photo resist material that has been modified by light.

12. How material modification is done in micro-fabrication process?

Following are the material modification is done in micro-fabrication process.

Ion implantation.

Diffusion doping.

Thermal annealing.

13. What is subtractive process?

Plasma etching.

Reactive ion etching.

Deep reactive ion etching.

Wet chemical ion etching of silicon.

Wet chemical ion etching of thin films

14. List the process steps of photo resist spin coating.

A wafer is held on rotating stage.

Photo resist is applied to the center of the wafer under centrifugal forces.

After the wafer spinning is stopped, a uniform thin layer of photo resist is
coated on the front surface of a wafer.

Process variables include the wafer spinning speed, the viscosity of the
resist, and the types of resists (e.g., target wavelength, sensitivity)

15. What is thermal annealing?

In metallurgy and materials science, annealing is a heat treatment that alters the
physical and sometimes chemical properties of a material to increase its ductility
and reduce its hardness, making it more workable. It involves heating a material to
above its re-crystallization temperature, maintaining a suitable temperature, and
then cooling.
16. What is doping?
Doping is the process of planting dopant atoms into the host semiconductor lattice
in order to change the electrical characteristics of the host material. The initial
source dopants can be placed on the surface of the wafer or precisely injected into
the silicon lattice using the ion implantation method. The dopant atoms can further
diffuse from high concentration to low concentration regions under thermal
activation.
17. Define thermal diffusion.
Dopant atoms perform random walk (Brownian motion) in a semiconductor lattice
under elevated wafer temperature. Though the movement of individual dopant

atoms is random, the overall population of dopant atoms moves from high
concentration regions to low concentrations ones.
18. What is encapsulation?
Encapsulation can be performed at the wafer level or the package level. Wafer
level encapsulation allows the greatest potential for miniaturization and
automation. However, the technology for wafer-level encapsulation is challenging.
19. Compare wet etching with silicon anisotropic etching.
Wet etching
Removing materials by wet chemical reaction is common. It is used for removing
metal, dielectrics, semiconductors, polymers and functional materials. The
selectivity of etching against masking materials, substrates and the target material
is crucial issue for MEMS process design.
Silicon anisotropic etching
Anisotropic etching of silicon is a very unique micromechanical process. It can be
used to produce a variety of three dimensional structures.
20. What is wafer dicing?
A wafer consists of multiple dies; each must break into separate pieces before
being packaged individually. The traditional process for separating dies is through
a dicing process. A high speed rotating dicing saw blade is used to cut trenches in
silicon wafer. The cutting process being mechanical in natures produces particles.
Wafer is sprayed onto the wafer to lubricate and remove heat.
21. Brief bulk micromachining.
Bulk micromachining process involves selectively removing the bulk (silicon
substrate) material in order to form certain three dimensional features or
mechanical elements, such as beams and membranes. It may be combined with
wafer bonding to create even more complex three- dimensional structures.
22. What is IPR1 & IPR2?
Ideal Process Rule (IPR1) #1: Any layer deposited on a wafer should not
physically, thermally or chemically damage or compromise layers already on the
wafer.
Ideal Process Rule (IPR2) #2: Any etching agent for removing one layer of
material should ideally not attack other materials at all.
23. What is called mean free path?
The statistical average distance a charge carrier travels between two successive
collision events is called its mean free path.
24. Define Poissons ratio.

It is defined as the ratio between the transverse and longitudinal elongations:

n = - etrans / elongitudinal
Or
v = mod (Sy/ Sx) = mod (Sz/ Sx)
25. What is called the carrier mobility?
The magnitude of the velocity is the mathematical product of the magnitude of the
local electric field (E) and the agility of the carrier usually represented by a term
called the carrier mobility, . The mobility is defined as = /E
26. Define stress and strain.
Stress is defined as the external force applied per unit area. When body is
subjected to equal and opposite pulls, it elongates. The resistance offered to this
elongation is tensile stress. If body is subjected to equal and opposite pushes, it
contracts and the resistance offered to this contraction is compressive stress.
Strain is defined as the ratio of change in dimension to the original dimension.
The strain corresponding to the tensile stress is called tensile strain and it is
defined as the ratio of the increase in the length to the original length. The strain
corresponding to the compressive stress is called as compressive strain. It is
defined as the ratio of decrease in length to the original length.
27. Find the resistivity and conductivity of the doped bulk silicon.
The resistivity of the doped silicon is calculated by plugging in the following
formula.
= 1/ = 1/ q(nno + ppo)
28. Define intrinsic stress.
Many thin film materials experience internal stress even when they are under room
temperature and zero external loading conditions. This phenomenon is called the
intrinsic stress.
29. What is resonant frequency?
The resonant frequency determines the ultimately achievable bandwidth of a
device. Hence for many devices, a greater resonant frequency is desired.
fn = 22.4/2

EIg/wL4

30. What is damping and quality factor?

Damping: It is derived from both viscous fluid interaction and collision with gas
particles and structural damping. The damping factors are therefore subjected to
temperature, pressure, types of gas molecule and other environmental factors.

Quality factor: The sharpness of resonant peak is characterized by a term called

the quality factor. The sharper the resonance peak, the higher the quality factor.

PART B
1. Explain the difference between MEMS and Microsystems.
2. Write short notes on: (i) Microelectronics integration.

(ii) Parallel fabrication

with precision.
3. Explain the intrinsic characteristics of MEMS.
4. Explain in detail the sensors consideration and actuators selection with design
criteria.
5. Describe in detail the energy transduction process of sensors and actuators.
6. List the comparison of actuation methods.
7. Explain in detail the silicon based MEMS process for a micro machined pressure
sensor.
8. Describe in detail the essential overview of frequently used micro fabrication
processes.
9. Explain in detail the process selection and design is crucial for MEMS.
10. Describe in detail the ideal rules for building a process flow.
11. Discuss the chemical and temperature compatibility related to micro machines
pressure sensor.
12. Explain the conductivity of semiconductors.
13. Explain in detail the different types of beams.
14. Describe in detail the general scalar relation between tensile stress and strain.
15. Discuss in detail the torsional bending of a cylinder with circular cross section.