Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (4) (2015) 1673~1679

www.springerlink.com/content/1738-494x
DOI 10.1007/s12206-015-0339-z

Fabrication process of a microstructures based on hydrogenated amorphous

SiGe films for applications in MEMS devices
M. Galindo-Mentle1, F. Lpez-Huerta2,*, R. Palomino-Merino1, C. Ziga-Islas3,
W. Calleja-Arriaga3 and A. L. Herrera-May2
1
Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, San Claudio y Ro Verde, Puebla, Mexico
2
Micro and Nanotechnology Research Center, Veracruzana University, Adolfo Ruiz Cortines 455, Boca del Ro, Veracruz, Mexico
3
National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, Luis Enrique Erro 1, Tonantzintla, Puebla, Mexico

(Manuscript Received March 16, 2014; Revised August 12, 2014; Accepted December 17, 2014)

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Abstract

We present a fabrication process of microstructures using both boron-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon and hydrogenated amor-
phous silicon-germanium (a-SiB:H and a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H) films for applications in devices based on microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS). These microstructures are fabricated through plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with a low temperature of
300C at 110 kHz and a pressure of 0.6 Torr. The proposed microstructures have three different geometries (Diamond, cantilever and
bridge) considering a single structural layer of 1 m thickness and are fabricated using surface micromachining. The fabricated a-
Si0.5Ge0.5B:H microstructures do not present sticking problems and have good mechanical stability, which can allow their use in MEMS
devices. Our fabrication process with hydrogenated amorphous SiGe films is simple. This process decreases the residual stress of the
microstructures and allows the metal deposition on the microstructures surfaces.
Keywords: Hydrogenated amorphous films; Microstructures; MEMS devices; PECVD; Surface micromachining
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using polysilicon films. They can be deposited and doped to

1. Introduction
temperature of 650C and 900C, respectively. These tem-
Recent advances in micromachining technologies have in- perature values can cause rediffusion on the electronic devices
cluded researches of new materials to fabricate microelectro- and residual stresses on microstructures [24]. Recently, amor-
mechanical systems (MEMS). For instance, silicon-germani- phous semiconductors have been used to fabricate microstruc-
um (SiGe) and poly-SiGe films have been used in complemen- tures to low temperature (Close to 300C), which can reduce
tary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and CMOS-MEMS their residual stresses. In addition, these semiconductors are
post-processing to obtain supply lines and electronic devices compatible with standard CMOS technology [2]. We propose
without damages during chemical etch and thermal treatment a simple fabrication process of microstructures composed by
close to 300C [1-12]. For instance, several devices (i.e., accel- boron-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-SiB:H) or a-
erometers, anemometers, gyroscopes, thermal devices, RF SiGe:H films deposited to low temperature about 300C,
transmitters, photodetectors, optical modulators, and micromir- which decrease the thermal effect on the electronic circuits of
rors could be integrated on the top surface of a CMOS circuit MEMS devices. This process can alter the mechanical, electri-
[13-19]. In addition, materials such as SiGe, boron-doped sili- cal, and optical properties of the microstructures in relation to
con-germanium (SiGe:B), and hydrogenated amorphous sili- the deposition conditions of the a-SiGe:H films such as tem-
con-germanium alloy (a-SiGe:H) can be deposited by plasma perature, pressure, gases flow, dopant amount, and the Si/Ge
enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on the surface relation [25]. Our fabrication process is not complex and al-
of an integrated circuit at low temperature [20-23]. These mate- lows a better definition of the microstructures edges that the
rials have suitable properties to fabricate microstructures com- conventional process of polysilicon and polysilicon-
patible with CMOS-MEMS technologies. germanium. Also, this process can deposit metal films on the
Generally, microstructures of MEMS devices are fabricated microstructures surfaces.
This paper is organized as follows: In Sec. 2, we present the
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 12299282303, Fax.: +52 2297752000
design of the geometry patrons used to define the microstruc-
E-mail address: flo012579@gmail.com

Recommended by Associate Editor Jongbaeg Kim tures. In Sec. 3, we include the steps for the fabrication proc-
KSME & Springer 2015
1674 M. Galindo-Mentle et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (4) (2015) 1673~1679
Table 1. Dimensions of three bridge microstructures designed in this
work.
Number of bridge Thickness h Length Lcr
Width W (m)
microstructure (m) (m)
C1 1 100 10
C2 1 150 10
C3 1 200 10
Fig. 1. Three bridge microstructures with different dimensions pro-
posed in this work.
ess of the microstructures. The results and discussions of the
proposed fabrication process are reported in Sec. 4. Finally,
the conclusions and future research are considered in Sec. 5.
2. Microstructures design based on hydrogenated amor-
phous SiGe films
This section presents the microstructures design considering
both hydrogenated amorphous silicon and boron-doped hy-
drogenated amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiB:H and a-
Si0.5Ge0.5B:H) films. Our fabrication process presents the ge-
ometry patterns of POLIMEMSV chip [26], which includes
several geometric topologies such as bridge, diamond, and
cantilever structures. These patterns are used to determine
mechanical properties such as residual stress and critical
length of the our microstructures fabricated with amorphous
materials (a-SiB:H and a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H).
Fig. 1 shows three schematics view of the bridge structure,
which can be fabricated using a-SiB:H or a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films.
This structure is formed by a double clamped beam, which is
connected to two pads (100 100 mm). It is used to determine
the critical (Maximum) length of the double clamped beam,
which will avoid the buckling effect on the beam. The critical
deformation ecr to prevent buckling of the beam can be esti-
mate through Euler Eq. [27, 28]:
p 2h2
e cr = -
3L2cr
where h and Lcr are the thickness and critical length of the
beam, respectively. Table 1 indicates the dimensions for three
bridge microstructures proposed in this work.
Fig. 2. Three diamond microstructures with different dimensions pro-
posed in this work.
Fig. 3. Top view of the diamond microstructure, which shows the
points of extension and contraction A and B, respectively.
Fig. 2 shows the design of three diamond microstructures
with different dimensions. These microstructures are designed
to predict the residual stresses of the microstructures caused
during their fabrication process.
The geometry of the diamond microstructures presents ad-
vantages with respect to bridge and cantilever microstructures.
For instance, diamond microstructures have higher stiffness
and lower sensitivity due to that the tensile deformation, dur-
ing the fabrication process, is converted in a compressive de-
formation in the central beam of the diamond microstructures.
This deformation conversion is called conversion efficiency
(gd) and its magnitude can be obtained using the ratio of the
contraction of the points B to the extension of points A of the
diamond microstructures, as shown Fig. 3. Three finite ele-
ment method (FEM) models of the diamond microstructures
were used to obtain their values of gd.
These models were made through the ANSYS software
considering the element type solid 187 and the following
properties: Young modules of 130 GPa and Poisson ratio of
0.28. In order to simulate the extension and contractions of the
points A and B of the diamond microstructure, a pressure of
(1)
100 MPa was applied to the ends (Close to points A) of the
diamond microstructure. Figs. 4(a)-(c) shows the results of the
extension and contraction of the three diamond microstruc-
tures. Thus, the approximated values of gd for the three dia-
mond microstructures were 0.40, 0.41, and 0.42, respectively.
 M. Galindo-Mentle et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (4) (2015) 1673~1679 1675

Table 2. Dimensions of three diamond microstructures designed in this Table 3. Dimensions of the cantilever microstructures.
work.
Number of cantilever Thickness h Length Width W1 Width W2
Number of diamond microstructure (m) (m) (m) (m)
Thickness hc (m) Length Lc (m)
microstructure B1 C1 1 50 10 5
D1 1 100 B2 C2 1 100 10 5
D2 1 150 B3 C3 1 150 10 5
D3 1 200 B4 C4 1 200 10 5
B5 C5 1 250 10 5
B6 C6 1 300 10 5
B7 C7 1 350 10 5

Fig. 4. Displacements (m) of the three diamond microstructures ob-

tained using FEM models to obtain the values of their conversion
Fig. 5. Cantilever microstructures with different dimensions.
efficiencies (gd).

To determine the deformation of the central beam (ec), we
used the Euler criterion for the deformation of a bridge beam,
which is divided by gd considering the fixed ends of the beam
[27, 28]:
2
p 2 hc 1
ec = -
3 Lc g d
where hc and Lc are the thickness and critical length of the
central beam of the diamond microstructure, respectively.
Many different methods have been developed to determine
the mechanical properties of thin film materials such as meas-
uring the deflection of the fabricated structures under external
load or self-deformation, optical X-rays method, step profiler
method and resonance method [29, 30]. The residual stress of
the central beam of the diamond microstructures can be ob-
tained by
si = ecE
where E is the Youngs module. Table 2 shows the dimen-
sions of each diamond microstructure.
In addition, we designed cantilever microstructures to de-
termine their residual stress gradient. This microstructure type
presents an arc-shaped deformation, which is proportional to
the magnitude of its residual stress gradient. The cantilevers
are designed by two series B and C (See Fig. 5) with different
dimensions of length and width, respectively. Table 3 indi-
cates the dimensions of cantilever microstructures.
3. Fabrication process
The bridge, cantilever, and diamond microstructures of the
PolyMEMSV chip were fabricated using surface micro-
machining on <100> 4 silicon wafers. The silicon layer is
(2)
doped with phosphorus and has a 2-5 -cm resistivity. This
process uses five different materials to fabricate the micro-
structures, which includes silicon dioxide (SiO2), polysilicon,
phosphorous silicate glass (PSG), aluminum, and amorphous
materials (a-SiB:H and a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H). Based on these mate-
rials, SiO2 is used as electric insolation and polysilicon is used
to fabricate the mechanical supports. Aluminum loop is de-
posited to build the electrical connections of the microstruc-
tures. In addition, a-SiB:H and a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films are used
as structural components of the PolyMEMSV chip.
Our fabrication process includes the etching and depositing
of materials through conventional etching techniques (Wet
(3) and dry etching). The dry etching includes reactive ion etching
(RIE) using a MicroRIE-800 system (Technis Inc.) with
CHF3/O2 and SF4/O2 gases. The wet etching employs potas-
sium hydroxide (KOH) and deionized (DI) water to 0.1 % at
32C. These etching processes are used to transfer geometrical
patterns of the microstructures on the silicon wafer through a
conventional photolithography process. Germanium gas phase
composition XGe is defined as a gas flow ratio XGe=
GeH4/[SiH4+GeH4] to 50%.
The proposed fabrication process can be described through
1676 M. Galindo-Mentle et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (4) (2015) 1673~1679
Fig. 6. Fabrication process steps of the microstructures formed by both
hydrogenated boron-doped silicon and amorphous silicon-germanium
films.
the following main steps:
The fabrication process starts by growing a 200 nm thin
silicon dioxide film on the front side of the silicon wafer, as
shown in Fig. 6(a). Next, an intrinsic polysilicon layer (500
nm thickness) is deposited using a plasma enhanced chemical
vapor deposited (PECVD) at 650C, as shown in Fig. 6(b). A
2.5 m PSG film is deposited on silicon wafer through an
atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) at
450C. In the first photolithographic process, this layer is used
to define the layout of the geometrical patterns of the amor-
phous microstructures, as shown in Fig. 6(c). For this process,
a negative photoresist (MA-1420) is applied to 5000 revolu-
tions per minute (rpm) during 30 s. After, this photoresist is
pre-baked at 80C during 15 min and the geometrical patterns
are transferred of the first mask to the PSG film. Next, wet
etching is applied using KOH to 0.1% during 20 s and is fol-
lowed by a thermal baked at 110C during 15 min. Later, wet
etching using HF:H2O (0.1% at 30C) is used to define the
anchors of the microstructures, as shown in Fig. 6(d). The
negative photoresist is removed with acetone and an amor-
phous material film (a-Si:H or a-SiGe:H) of 1 m thickness is
deposited using PECVD. This process is operated at 300C,
110 kHz, 500 W, and 0.6 mTorr. Each amorphous film type is
deposited according to the desired microstructure composition.
For the SiGe film is used the following gases: silane (SiH4)
gas to 25 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm) flow,
germane (GeH4) gas to 25 sccm flow, hydrogen gas to 1000
sccm flow, and diborane (B6H4) to 50 sccm flow. For SiB:H
film is employed the following gases: SiH4 to 50 sccm flow,
hydrogen to 1000 sccm flow, and B6H4 to 50 sccm flow, as
shown in Fig. 6(e).
The second photolithographic process is used to transfer the
geometrical patterns of the microstructures into the amorphous
films. For this process, dry etching through reactive ion etch-
ing (RIE) is applied using SF4 with a MicroRIE-800. This
Fig. 7. Microphotographs of (a)-(b) bridge microstructures; (c)-(d)
cantilever microstructures fabricated with a-SiB:H films.
equipment is operated to 200 W with a gas pressure of 300
mTorr. Fig. 6(f) shows the final profile of the fabricated mi-
crostructures. The electric contacts of the microstructures are
fabricated depositing a 500 nm aluminum film through a
physical vapor deposition (PVD). These contacts patterns on
the microstructures are defined using wet etching with H3PO4-
CH3COOH-HNO3 solution, as shown in Fig. 5(g). A positive
photoresist film (MA-1225) is deposited on the microstruc-
tures and electrical contacts to protect them during the wet
etching. This photoresist film is applied to 3000 rpm during 30
s, as shown in Fig. 6(h). The PSG film is removed using HF
(49% concentration) to ambient temperature during 4 min.
Thus, the amorphous microstructures are released. Finally to
eliminate the HF residues, the silicon wafer is cleaned using
propanol at 60C, DI water at 62C, and acetone at 62C, as
shown in Fig. 6(i). The fabrication process of microstructures
composed by SiGe and a-SiGe:H films does not present ther-
mal process with temperatures higher than 450C. Our fabrica-
tion process is easier than conventional fabrication processes
of polysilicon and polysilicon-germanium films. Metallic
films can be deposited on the microstructures formed by a-
SiB:H and a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films. In addition, the proposed
fabrication process allows a good definition of the microstruc-
tures edges with respect to conventional polysilicon fabrica-
tion process. Our fabrication process uses low temperatures,
which decreases the residual stress of the microstructures. In
addition, this process can be compatible with CMOS post-
processing.
4. Experimental results
Fig. 7(a) shows two bridge microstructures (10 m thick-
ness) fabricated with a-SiB:H films, which have lengths of
100 m and 150 m, respectively. These two microstructures
do not present significant deformations. Fig. 7(b) shows three
bridge microstructures (5 m thickness) of a-SiB:H films with
lengths of 200 m, 250 m, and 300 m, respectively. These
 M. Galindo-Mentle et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (4) (2015) 1673~1679
Fig. 8. Microphotographs of (a)-(b) bridge microstructures; (c)-(d)
cantilever microstructures fabricated using a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films.
Fig. 9. SEM images of the structural resolution of cantilever micro-
structures based on a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films.
microstructures do not present strong residual compressive
stresses. On the other hand, Fig. 7(c) shows a cantilever mi-
crostructures array fabricated with a-SiB:H films, which do
not present significant residual stress gradients. However,
these microstructures have some problems to obtain good
definition of their edges during the RIE process, as shown in
Fig. 7(d). The microstructures fabricated with a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H
films present the better results in the definition of their edges.
Fig. 8 shows microphotographs of cantilever and bridge mi-
crostructures fabricated using a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films. Fig. 8(a)
shows three bridge microstructures, which have a thickness of
10 m and lengths of 200 m, 250 m, and 300 m, respec-
tively. In addition, Fig. 8(b) depicts two bridge microstruc-
tures (5 m thickness) with lengths of 100 and 150 m, re-
spectively. Also, Fig. 8(c) shows a cantilever microstructures
array. Monitoring these microphotographs SEM images, the
cantilever and bridge microstructures based on a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H
films do not present significant residual stresses and deforma-
tions. Figs. 9(a)-(c) shows SEM images of other cantilever
1677
Fig. 10. SEM image of diamond microstructures based on (a) a-SiB:H;
(b) a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films.
microstructures array (1 m thickness) with length range from
50 m to 350 m, and width of 5 m and10 m, respectively.
These microstructures do not present sticking problems during
the fabrication process and have a good definition of their
edges. Fig. 10 shows SEM images of diamond microstructures
based on a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films. These microstructures have a
thickness of 10 m and a length range from 100 to 200 m.
Their central beams have residual compressive stresses and
deformations. However, these microstructures do not present
sticking problems and have good resolution of their edges.
Thus, the proposed fabrication process could be used to obtain
microstructures of MEMS devices.
5. Conclusions
A simple surface micromachining process of bridge, canti-
lever, and diamond microstructures based on a-SiB:H and a-
Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films (1 mm thickness) was presented. These
microstructures can be fabricated with temperatures of 300C.
In addition, an aluminum film (500 nm thickness) can be de-
posited on the microstructures to operate as electrical connec-
tions. The bridge and cantilever microstuctures did no present
significant residual deformations. The microstructures based
on a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films had good definition at their edges and
did not present sticking problems. These microstructures have
a good mechanical stability and could be used in CMOS-
MEMS technologies.
Future research will include the fabrication and characteri-
zation of MEMS devices based on microstructures of a-SiB:H
and a-Si0.5Ge0.5B:H films. Also, it will consider the characteri-
zation by atomic force microscopy, nanoindentation for de-
terminate mechanical properties.
Acknowledgment
The work was supported by National Science and Technol-
ogy Council (CONACyT) through grant 48757, Mexico.
1678 M. Galindo-Mentle et al. / Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 29 (4) (2015) 1673~1679
Nomenclature------------------------------------------------------------------------
E : Youngs modulus
ec : Critical deformation of the diamond microstructure
ecr : Critical deformation of the bridge microstructure
FEM : Finite element method
gd : Conversion efficiency
h : Thickness of the bridge microstructure
hc : Thickness of the diamond microstructure
Lcr : Critical length of the bridge microstructure
Lc : Critical length of the diamond microstructure
si : Residual stress
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Margarita Galindo-Mentle received
the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied
Physics from the Faculty of Science
Physic and Mathematics, Benemrita
Universidad Autnoma de Puebla, Mex-
ico, in 2007 and 2013, respectively. She
is currently a professor in the electrical
Engineering department, of University
Technological of Xicotepec of Jurez, Puebla, Mexico
(UTXJ). Her research focuses on obtaining and characteriza-
tion of amorphous materials deposited by PECVD method.
Her main research effort is to develop microstructures based
in amorphous silicon germanium for MEMS applications.
Currently, she is working with organics materials for MEMS
applications.
Francisco Lpez-Huerta received a
B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering
from Puebla Institute of Technology in
2003 and M.Sc. in Optoelectronics and
Ph.D. in Applied Physiscs from Faculty
of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
of Meritorious Autonomous University
of Puebla, Mexico, in 2005 and 2011,
respectively. He has published more than 18 research papers
in the international journals. Currently, he is a Professor at the
Veracruzana University. His research interest areas include
MEMS and CMOS sensors.
Carlos Ziga-Islas received the M.Sc.
and Ph.D. degrees from National Insti-
tute for Astrophysics, Optics and Elec-
tronics (INAOE), Puebla, Mxico, in
1997 and 2005, respectively. He began
his technical experience in 1982, in the
microelectronics laboratory, INAOE. He
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is currently a professor in the electronics department, INAOE.
His research focuses on obtaining and characterization of
amorphous materials deposited by PECVD method. His main
research effort is to develop microstructures based in amor-
phous silicon germanium for MEMS applications and high
dielectric constant materials based in amorphous carbon. Cur-
rently, he is working with titanium oxide nano-particles films
for photovoltaic devices.
Rodolfo Palomino-Merino received the
M.Sc. degree from Science Faculty of
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de
Mxico (UNAM) and Ph.D. degree from
Physics Department of Universidad
Autnoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa
(UAM-I). He is currently a professor
and research in the Facultad de Ciencias
Fsico Matemticas of Universidad Autnoma de Puebla, in
the city of Puebla, Mxico. His works are related with Materi-
als Science: Optical, Electrical and Structural properties of
thin films and bulk materials and the materials synthesized by
Sol-Gel and solid reaction.
Wilfrido Calleja-Arriaga was born in
Teotitln, Oaxaca, Mxico on october
12, 1960. Mr Calleja-Arriaga received
his M.S. Degree from the Electronics
Department at INAOE, Puebla, Mxico,
in 1986. He got his Doctorate degree in
Electrical Engineering from the CIN-
VESTAV-IPN in 1996, in the area of
non-volatile memory devices. Now he is working as a re-
searcher at the Electronics Department of INAOE. His re-
search fields are related with Silicon micromachining and
MEMS. He was President of the SMCTSM. He is part of the
Editorial Board of the Superficies y Vaco Journal, edited by
the SMCTSM in Mxico.
Agustn L. Herrera-May received a
B.S. degree in Mechanical and Electrical
Engineering from Veracruzana University,
Veracruz, Mexico, in 2002 and M.E.
and Doctor of Engineering degrees from
Guanajuato University, Guanajuato,
Mexico, in 2002 and 2011, respectively.
He is a Research Scientist at the Micro
and Nanotechnology Research Center (MICRONA) from
Veracruzana University. He has published more than 35 re-
search papers and has served as Reviewer of 20 international
journals. His research interests include microelectromechanical
and nanoelectromechanical systems, mechanical vibrations,
fracture, mechanical design, and finite-element method.