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MEMS term misleading?
• MEMS – Micro system technology (MST) in

Europe
• Micro machines in Japan
• Sensors and actuators
• Bio-MEMS
• MOEMS
• RF MEM
Schematic illustration of MEMS
components.
• Micro sensors detect changes in the

system’s environment by measuring
mechanical, thermal, magnetic,
chemical or electromagnetic
information or phenomena.
• Microelectronics process this
information and signal the micro
actuators to react and create some
form of changes to the environment.
Diff. b/w MEMS & IC -
Applications of MEMS
Materials for Micromachining
• Substrates: The most common substrate material for micromachining is silicon. It
has been successful in the microelectronics industry and will continue to be in
areas of miniaturization for several reasons:
i. silicon is abundant, inexpensive, and can be processed to unparalleled
purity
ii. silicon’s ability to be deposited in thin films is very amenable to MEMS
iii. high definition and reproduction of silicon device shapes using
photolithography are perfect for high levels of MEMS precision
iv. silicon microelectronics circuits are batch fabricated (a silicon wafer
contains hundreds of identical chips not just one)
• Other crystalline semiconductors including germanium (Ge) and gallium arsenide
(GaAs) are used as substrate materials due to similar inherent features.
• silicon is distinguished from other semiconductors in that it can be readily
oxidized to form a chemically inert and electrically insulating surface layer of
SiO2 on exposure to steam.
MEMS Fabrication Methods
• MEMS fall into three general classifications
• bulk micromachining
• surface micromachining
• high-aspect-ratio micromachining (HARM),
which includes technology such as LIGA (a
German acronym from Lithographie,
Galvanoformung, Abformung translated as
lithography, electroforming and moulding).
Potential complexity of a MEMS
system
Photolithography
• A thin layer of an organic polymer, which is
sensitive to ultraviolet radiation, is then
deposited on the oxide layer; this is called
a photoresist.
• A photomask, consisting of a glass plate
(transparent) coated with a chromium
pattern (opaque), is then placed in contact
with the photoresist coated surface.
• The wafer is exposed to the ultraviolet
radiation transferring the pattern on the
mask to the photoresist which is then
developed in a way very similar to the
process used for developing photographic
films.
• A chemical (usually hydrochloric acid) is
used to attack and remove the uncovered
oxide from the exposed areas of the
photoresist.
• The remaining photoresist is subsequently
removed, usually with hot sulphuric acid
which attacks the photoresist but not the
oxide layer on the silicon, leaving a pattern
of oxide on the silicon surface.
Bulk Micromachining
• Bulk micromachining involves the removal of part
of the bulk substrate.
• It is a subtractive process that uses
• wet anisotropic etching or
• dry etching method such as reactive ion etching (RIE),
to create large pits, grooves and channels.
• Materials typically used for wet etching include
silicon and quartz.
• Materials typically used dry etching is silicon,
metals, plastics and ceramics.
Wet Etching
• Wet etching describes the removal of material
through the immersion of a material (typically
a silicon wafer) in a liquid bath of a chemical
etchant.
• These etchants can be
• Isotropic
• Anisotropic
Wet Etching
The most common form of isotropic silicon
etch is HNA, which comprises a mixture of
hydrofluoric acid (HF), nitric acid (HNO3) and
acetic acid (CH3COOH). Isotropic etchants
are limited by the geometry of the structure
to be etched. Etch rates can slow down and
in some cases (for example, in deep and
narrow channels) they can stop due to
diffusion limiting factors
Anisotropic etchants etch faster in a preferred

direction. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) is the
most common anisotropic etchant as it is
relatively safe to use. Structures formed in the
substrate are dependent on the crystal
orientation of the substrate or wafer.
Dry Etching
• Dry etching relies on vapor phase or
plasma-based methods of etching using
suitably reactive gases or vapors usually at
high temperatures.
• The most common form for MEMS is
reactive ion etching (RIE) which utilizes
additional energy in the form of radio
frequency (RF) power to drive the chemical
reaction.
• Energetic ions are accelerated towards the
material to be etched within a plasma
phase supplying the additional energy
needed for the reaction.
• as a result the etching can occur at much
lower temperatures (typically 150º - 250ºC,
sometimes room temperature) than those
usually needed (above 1000ºC).
Surface Micromachining
• A typical surface
micromachined cantilever
beam is shown in Figure.
• Here, a sacrificial layer of
oxide is deposited on the
silicon substrate surface using
a pattern and
photolithography.
• A polysilicon layer is then
deposited and patterned
using RIE processes to form a
cantilever beam with an
anchor pad.
• The wafer is then wet etched
to remove the oxide
(sacrificial) layer releasing
and leaving the beam on the
substrate.
Fusion Bonding
• In order to form more complex and larger
MEMS structures, micromachined silicon
wafers can be bonded to other materials
in a process known as fusion bonding.
• It is a technique that enables virtually
seamless integration of multiple layers
and relies on the creation of atomic
bonds between each layer either directly
(with heating and pressure in the case of
glass to wafer bonding), or through a thin
film of silicon dioxide .
• Photoresist and polymethylmethacrylate
(PMMA) are used as MEMS fusion
bonding media and have proved very
successful for the bonding of polyimide
High-Aspect-Ratio Micromachining
• High-aspect-ratio micromachining (HARM) is a
process that involves micromachining as a tooling
step followed by injection moulding or embossing
and, if required, by electroforming to replicate
microstructures in metal from moulded parts.
• It is one of the most attractive technologies for
replicating microstructures at a high
performance-to-cost ratio and includes
techniques known as LIGA.
LIGA
• The technique employs X-ray synchrotron
radiation to expose thick acrylic resist of
PMMA under a lithographic mask

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MEMS term misleading?

• MEMS – Micro system technology (MST) in

• Micro sensors detect changes in the

Anisotropic etchants etch faster in a preferred

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