Test structures to measure the heat capacity of CMOS layer sandwiches

We report novel thermal characterization microstructures to measure the heat capacity c of CMOS IC layer sandwiches. This parameter is relevant, e.g., for the dynamic response of thermal CMOS microtransducers. The test structures were fabricated using the commercial 2 /spl mu/m low voltage CMOS process of EM Microelectronic Marin, Switzerland, followed by maskless micromachining. At 300 K, volumetric heat capacities of 1.74/spl plusmn/0.13/spl times/10/sup 6/ Jm/sup -3/ K/sup -1/ and 2.23/spl plusmn/1.87/spl times/ 10/sup 6/ Jm/sup -3/ K/sup -1/ for the sandwich of CMOS dielectrics and for the lower CMOS metal, respectively, were obtained.