Department of Energy and Renewable Energy Engineering
Egyptian Chinese University Outline
Micro electromechanical Systems (MEMS)
Additive & Subtractive Manufacturing
Manufacturing Steps for Microfabrication
Definitions Mechatronics is the integration of mechanical systems with electronic components to create more functional and efficient products and processes.
MEMS devices often integrate mechanical and
electrical components on a single chip at (miniaturized) small-scale systems.
It involves mechanical components like beams,
gears, and sensors, along with electronic components.
MEMS devices often include (accelerometers,
temperature and pressure sensors), actuators, gyroscopes for angular velocity detection) Processes for MEMS Fabrication • Additive manufacturing (AM) processes that build objects by adding material layer by layer, while subtractive manufacturing (SM) removes material to create parts.
• AM, is a technology used to manufacture
physical objects by depositing thin layers of material on top of each other
• SM refers to processes that includes cutting
or etching. It works by subtracting material from solid stock to make shapes and components. MEMS Production
MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) devices are constructed on a microscopic
scale using technologies such as wet and dry etching and thin film deposition onto Si wafer. Applications such as sensors and optical displays
AM gives less amount of materials waste
Processes for MEMS Fabrication Surface vs Bulk Micro-Machining MEMS devices are either built into a substrate (bulk micromachining) or on a substrate (surface micromachining)
Bulk micromachining defines structures by
selectively etching inside a substrate.
Surface micromachining builds
microstructures by deposition and etching structural layers over a substrate. This is different from Bulk micromachining, in which a silicon substrate wafer is selectively etched to produce structures. Surface Micro-Machining Process Silicon Wafers
Si Ingots (bars) Unpolished Si
Wafer • MEMS fabrication processes start with a substrate, or a wafer. • Silicon (Si) wafers are used in most cases as substrates for MEMS devices. • Wafers are created by cutting the silicon ingot to Polished Si thin wafers with variable thickness as desired. Wafer Wafer Cleaning
The RCA cleaning (Radio Corporation of America) is a
standard set of wafer cleaning steps which needs to be performed before proceeding with micromachining steps.
It is a cleaning method developed in order to remove both
organic and ionic contaminants from wafers.
RCA cleaning includes the following steps:
❖Removal of the organic contaminants (Organic Cleaning)
❖Removal of thin oxide contaminants (Oxide Stripping)
❖Removal of ionic contamination (Ionic Cleaning)
Wafer Cleaning
Removing Organics (H2SO4 + H2O2) (H2O +H2O2 +NH4OH) The wafers are prepared by soaking them in DI water, Removing Oxides distilled water, then (HF+H2O2) performing the RCA clean as follows: Removing ions (HCl+H2O2+H2O)
Clean wafer and ready for
the fabrication process Oxidation of Silicon Deposit sacrificial layer to protect silicon substrate
Oxidation is one of the basic steps in the silicon processing and IC
microelectronics. This layer helps to protect the area of the substrate from the chemicals used later for machining Oxygen from different sources (dry or wet) reach the surface of the substrate and react on it to form SiO2 layer.
The Si substrate surface is covered by
a layer made of silicon dioxide (SiO2) Oxidation of Silicon ❖ Silicon oxidizes at room temperature in a normal atmosphere. However, this oxidation is only a few atoms thick with very low quality.
❖ Oxidation of silicon occurs at high
temperature, usually above 800°C.
❖ Also, There are two types of oxidation, wet
and dry. Oxidation of Silicon In the first reaction a dry process is utilized involving oxygen gas as the oxygen source and the second reaction describes a wet process which uses steam Dry Oxidation Wet Oxidation 𝑆𝑖 + 𝑂2 → 𝑆𝑖𝑂2 𝑆𝑖 + 2𝐻2 𝑂 → 𝑆𝑖𝑂2 + 2𝐻2
Thermal Oxidation (Dry oxidation): Slow
diffusion of species leads to slow growth rate And hence, dense oxide formed (i.e. good quality,) A layer of Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) will result Wet oxidation: Species diffuse much faster. from both thermal and wet oxidation of Relatively porous oxide formed (lower quality) silicon processes on top of the Si wafer. Patterning Design Image A method of transferring a pattern to a flat substrate Pattern transfer, Lithography
Lithography is the process of transferring
patterns of geometric shapes in a mask to a thin layer of radiation-sensitive material (called resist) covering the surface of the Si substrate.
This process enable the direct transfer of
the mask pattern onto the Si wafer
After the patterns are defined, an etching
process is employed to selectively remove the underlying layer. Pattern transfer, Lithography • The photolithographic system contains:
to transfer micro- and nanoscale patterns to a substrate in processes, called photolithography to form a patterned coating on a surface.
Thickness of photoresist layer depends on:
Viscosity Spinning time Spinning speed Pattern transfer, Photoresist Thin film deposition Depositing thin films on the surface of the substrate. • Deposited films could be (Silicon, Copper, Titanium,… etc). • Two deposition methods are used, Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) which we can use to deposit thin films on various substrates. PVD does not require a chemical reaction to deposit CVD involves reacting gas phase chemicals in a a thin film layer on a Si wafer. It involves removing chamber to form a thin solid film on a substrate. atoms, molecules, and ions from a solid source It uses precursor gases as sources that chemically (target) and condensing them onto the substrate. react on or close to the surface of the substrate to PVD involves bombarding a metal target in a form a solid film. chamber and re-depositing atoms as a thin film on a substrate. Thin film deposition
The key difference between PVD and CVD is that the
coating material in PVD is in solid form whereas in CVD it is in gaseous form. Etching Patterned wafers usually require etching.
It is the process where unwanted areas of the film are removed. Removing the underlying sacrificial layer without damaging the structural element.
Etching can be classified as wet etching (chemical) or dry etching (plasma etching).
Wet etching involves using liquid chemicals or etchants to remove material (Acids, bases, and other solvents). Dry etching involves removing material using gases or plasma in a vacuum chamber
Wet (chemical) etching etches are generally more selective than plasma etches
Chemical process leads to isotropic etch whereas, plasma leads to anisotropic etch Isotropic etching involves removing material in all directions at an equal Etching Mechanism rate, creating a rounded profile. Meanwhile, anisotropic etching removes material along the vertical direction, producing sharp corners and edges Steps for Surface Micro Machining
Oxidation Masking Film deposition Photoresist Etching Solution of Bonus Problem Faraday’s law governs the induced force (or a motion) in the wire under the influence of a magnetic field Scaling in Electromagnetic Forces Thus, electromagnetic force scales as l4.
This indicates, that 10 times
reduction in the plate sizes (l) means a 10,000 times decrease in the induced electromagnetic force
Scaling: A10 times
reduction in size (l) cause •Electromagnetic force: 10,000 times reduction
