Surface micromachining for microelectromechanical systems
Bustillo, J.M.
Howe, R.T.
Muller, R.S.
Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., California Univ., Berkeley, CA;
This paper appears in: Proceedings of the IEEE
Publication Date: Aug 1998
Volume: 86,
Issue: 8
On page(s): 1552-1574
ISSN: 0018-9219
References Cited: 159
CODEN: IEEPAD
INSPEC Accession Number: 5996895
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/5.704260
Current Version Published: 2002-08-06
Abstract
Surface micromachining is characterized by the fabrication of
micromechanical structures from deposited thin films. Originally
employed for integrated circuits, films composed of materials such as
low-pressure chemical-vapor-deposition polycrystalline silicon, silicon
nitride, and silicon dioxides can be sequentially deposited and
selectively removed to build or “machine” three-dimensional
structures whose functionality typically requires that they be freed
from the planar substrate. Although the process to accomplish this
fabrication dates from the 1960's, its rapid extension over the past few
years and its application to batch fabrication of micromechanisms and of
monolithic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) make a thorough review
of surface micromachining appropriate at this time. Four central issues
of consequence to the MEMS technologist are: (i) the understanding and
control of the material properties of microstructural films, such as
polycrystalline silicon, (ii) the release of the microstructure, for
example, by wet etching silicon dioxide sacrificial films, followed by
its drying and surface passivation, (iii) the constraints defined by the
combination of micromachining and integrated-circuit technologies when
fabricating monolithic sensor devices, and (iv) the methods, materials,
and practices used when packaging the completed device. Last, recent
developments of hinged structures for postrelease assembly,
high-aspect-ratio fabrication of molded parts from deposited thin films,
and the advent of deep anisotropic silicon etching hold promise to
extend markedly the capabilities of surface-micromachining technologies
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