Tuning the quality factor of bulk micromachined structures using squeezed-film damping

This report demonstrates the tuning the quality factor of a micromachined structure using the air damping of a small squeezed-film area (300 m² to 800 m²). Two micromachining processes have successfully been established to fabricate novel stationary structures using thin films and bulk silicon, in which the stationary structure and a vibrating micromachined cantilever form a squeezed-film region. Measurements showed that, under the assistant of bulk silicon stationary structure, the quality factor of the vibrating beam decreased by 48% when the squeezed-film area was increased from 300 m² to 800 m² under a 760-torr ambient pressure. Moreover, even when the ambient pressure was only 20 mtorr, the quality factor of the beam still decreased by 20% for the same increase in area. Under the assistant of thin film stationary structure, the quality factor of the vibrating beam decreased by 35% when the squeezed-film area was increased from 300 m² to 500 m² under a 760-torr ambient pressure. Consequently, the proposed two stationary structures can be exploited to significantly alter the quality factor of dynamic systems.This material is based (in part) upon work supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, R.O.C. under contract No. 91-EC-17-A-07-S1-0011, and the Asia Pacific Microsystems Inc. The author would like to express his appreciation to the NSC Central Regional MEMS Research Center (Taiwan), Electrical Engineering Department of National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan), Semiconductor Center of National Chiao Tung University (Taiwan), and National Nano Device Laboratories (Taiwan) in providing fabrication facilities.     

Fabrication of piezoelectric multilayer thin-film actuators

In this study, we fabricated multilayer ceramics (MLCs) composed of multilayered Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) piezoelectric thin films with internal electrodes and evaluated their dielectric and piezoelectric properties. The stack of PZT ferroelectric layers (550 nm) and SrRuO₃ (SRO, 80 nm) electrodes were alternatively deposited on Pt/Ti-coated silicon-on-insulator substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The MLCs composed of one, three, and five PZT layers were fabricated by the alternate sputtering deposition of PZT ferroelectric layers and SRO electrodes through the movable shadow mask. The capacitances of MLCs were proportionally increased with the number of PZT layers, while their relative dielectric constants were almost same among the each MLC. The MLCs exhibited symmetric and saturated P–E hysteresis loops similar to the conventional PZT thin films. We estimated that the piezoelectric properties of MLCs by FEM simulation, and confirmed that the effective transverse piezoelectric coefficients (d _31,eff ) increased with the number of PZT layers. The piezoelectric coefficients calculated to be d _31,eff  = ?2964 pC/N at 25 PZT layers, which is much higher than those of conventional single-layer piezoelectric thin films.     

Design and fabrication of PZT microcantilevers with freestanding structure

For developing freestanding piezoelectric microcantilevers with low resonant frequency, some critical mechanical considerations, especially cantilever bending, were given in this study. Two strategies, using piezoelectric thick films and adding a stress compensation layer, were calculationally analyzed for mitigating the cantilever bending, and then was applied for the fabrication of PZT freestanding microcantilevers. (100) oriented PZT thick films with the thickness of 6.93 μm were grown on the Pt/SiO₂/Si substrate by chemical solution deposition (CSD), and the SiO₂ layer with the thickness of 1.0 μm was kept under the PZT layer as a stress compensation layer of the freestanding microcantilevers. The freestanding microcantilevers fabricated with the micromachining process possessed the resonant frequency of 466.1 Hz, and demonstrated no obvious cantilever bending.     

A surface micromachining process for suspended RF-MEMS applications using porous silicon

A porous silicon (PS) surface micromachining technology for suspended RF-MEMS device fabrication is proposed. Using PS as sacrificial layer and SiO₂ film as support membrane, suspended metallic structure has been realized. The lateral size of the obtained suspended inductor is 450 × 425 m². Sputtered aluminum with 1 m thickness is used as structural materials. To avoid any damage of the Al structure during the process, TMAH solution with Si powder and (NH₄)₂S₂O₈ is used to remove the PS layer through etching holes.This work is supported by the National 985 Project and 973 Project (G1999033105) of China. And the SEM measurements were sponsored by the THSJZ in Tsinghua University.     

Characterization of Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films deposited on stainless steel substrates by RF-magnetron sputtering for MEMS applications

Piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) thin films with a composition near the morphotoropic phase boundary were deposited directly on cantilever-shaped stainless steel (SUS) substrates using RF-magnetron sputtering for application of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the PZT thin films have a polycrystalline perovskite structure with a preferential orientation of (1 0 1). Cross-section morphology – observed using a scanning electron microscope – indicates that the PZT films exhibit a dense columnar structure without pores or clacks. The films’ P–E hysteresis loops indicate clear ferroelectricity. Based on the deflection characteristics of the cantilever, the effective piezoelectric coefficient e₃₁ of the PZT films is measured to be −1.35 C/m².     

Coupling bulge testing and nanoindention to characterize materials properties of bulk micromachined structures

Nanoindentation and the continuous stiffness method was used to obtain the elastic modulus of Pb(Zr_xTi_1–x)O₃ (X:1–XPZT) thin films that can be utilized in high aspect ratio structures. PZT films were deposited onto bulk micromachined silicon wafers by sol–gel deposition and two annealing treatments. Conventional annealing produced films that had an elastic modulus of 80 GPa for both the 52:48 and 40:60 PZT, while a 52:48 PZT deposited using rapid thermal annealing demonstrated a modulus of 70 GPa. These moduli allowed accurate stress measurements of both the composite membranes by bulge testing and also the individual PZT layers by X-ray diffraction. The residual tensile stress in the PZT film ranged from 190 to 400 MPa. Residual stresses were shown to affect both the strain to failure and the resonance frequency of the membrane generators. The applied strain to failure decreased with increasing residual stress. A tungsten underlayer was added to reduce the composite residual stress and increase the compliance, lowering the resonant frequency from 23 to 18 kHz.The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the U.S. Department of Energy through Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000, DARPA MTOs MicroPower Generation Program, the US Army SMDC contract #DASG60-02-C0001, and the Army Research Laboratories. Additional financial support was provided by the National Science Foundation DMI under the XYZ on a chip program grant #9980837. The authors would also like to thank M. Thompson and R. Polcawich for fabrication of at the ARL of RTA films, K. Shafer and R. Gifford of WSU for experimental assistance, and project supervision by C.D. Richards and R.F. Richards. Characterization by D. McCready and J. Young was performed at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user facility sponsored by the Department of Energys Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.     

Thermal bubble powered microactuators

Thermal bubble powered micro mechanical actuators have been successfully demonstrated in working liquids. Micro mechanical plates which function as the mechanical actuators are 70×60×2 m³ in size. They have been fabricated by surface-micromachining technology and suspended 2 m above the substrate by the supports of cantilever beams. Micro thermal bubbles which are generated by heavily phosphorus doped polysilicon line resistive heaters have been used to lift the mechanical plates in a controllable manner. The typical current required to generate a single, spherical thermal bubble as the actuation source on top of the micro line resistors (60×2×0.3 m³ in size) is 8.4 mA (80 m Watt) in FC 43 liquid (an inert, dielectrical fluid available from the 3M company). The thermal bubbles have been demonstrated to actuate the mechanical plate perpendicularly to the substrate with a maximum elevation distance of 140 m and a maximum actuation force of 2 N. This new actuation mechanism is expected to find applications for micro fluidic devices.The authors would like to thank Prof. V.P. Carey, Mechanical Engineering department, U.C. Berkeley and Dr. A.P. Lee for valuable discussions. The devices were fabricated in the UC Berkeley Microfabrication Laboratory and the FC liquid was provided by 3M company. This work has been supported by Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, an NSF/Industry/University Co-operative Research Center.     

Finite element analysis and experiments on a silicon membrane actuated by an epitaxial PZT thin film for localized-mass sensing applications

In this paper, we investigate the performance of a piezoelectric membrane actuated by an epitaxial piezoelectric Pb(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O₃ (PZT) thin film for localized-mass sensing applications. The fabrication and characterization of piezoelectric circular membranes based on epitaxial thin films prepared on a silicon wafer are presented. The dynamic behavior and mass sensing performance of the proposed structure are experimentally investigated and compared to numerical analyses. A 1500 μm diameter silicon membrane actuated by a 150 nm thick epitaxial PZT film exhibits a strong harmonic oscillation response with a high quality factor of 110-144 depending on the resonant mode at atmospheric pressure. Different aspects related to the effect of the mass position and of the resonant mode on the mass sensitivity as well as the minimum detectable mass are evaluated. The operation of the epitaxial PZT membrane as a mass sensor is determined by loading polystyrene microspheres. The mass sensitivity is a function of the mass position, which is the highest at the antinodal points. The epitaxial PZT membrane exhibits a mass sensitivity in the order of 10⁻¹² g/Hz with a minimum detectable mass of 5 ng. The results reveal that the mass sensor realized with the epitaxial PZT thin film, which is capable of generating a high actuating force, is a promising candidate for the development of high performance mass sensors. Such devices can be applied for various biological and chemical sensing applications.     

Micromachined ultrasonic transducers based on lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films

The design, fabrication and measuring of piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (pMUTs), including the deposition and patterning of PZT films, was investigated. The (100) preferential orientation of PZT film have been deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si (100) substrates by modified sol–gel method. PZT film and Pt/Ti electrode were patterned by novel lift-off using ZnO as a sacrificial layer avoiding shortcomings of dry and wet etching methods. pMUT elements have been fabricated by an improved silicon micromachining process and their properties were also characterized. As measured results, the pMUT tends to operate in a standard plate-mode. The receive sensitivity and transmit sensitivity of pMUT element whose active area only has 0.25 mm² are ?218 dB (ref. 1 V/μPa) and 139 dB (ref. 1 μPa/V), respectively.     

Trench filling characteristics of low stress TEOS/ozone oxide deposited by PECVD and SACVD

In this paper low stress silicon oxide was deposited with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS, Si(OC₂H₅)₄)/ozone by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and sub-atmospheric chemical vapor deposition (SACVD) for deep trench filling. Two kinds of PECVD oxide were fabricated: Coil antenna inductively coupled plasma (ICP) oxide and parallel plates capacitive coupled plasma (CCP) oxide. Adding ozone into the deposition process enhances the trench filling capability. Oxide filling in a deep trench (5 m wide, 52 m deep) was carried out using the SACVD process, which gave excellent conformal step coverage. However, the coil antenna ICP oxide was suitable as a sealing material. The effects of argon ion sputtering and magnetic field in the PECVD for the trench filling are discussed in this paper. Because the low temperature processes of PECVD and SACVD, the thermal residual stress was reduced and a low stress film of 85 MPa compression is available.This work is supported by a Grant-in-Aid (No. 13305010) from Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. A part of this work has been performed in Venture Business Laboratory, Tohoku University.     

Growth and electrical properties of highly (0 0 1)-oriented Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 thin films on amorphous TiN buffered Si(1 0 0)

Pb(Zr_0.52Ti_0.48)O₃ (PZT) ferroelectric thin films with LaNiO₃ (LNO) as bottom electrodes have been grown on amorphous TiN buffered Si(1 0 0) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. It was found that highly (0 0 1)-oriented LNO films could be obtained even if TiN underlayers were amorphous. XRD analyses showed that the subsequently deposited PZT films were also preferentially (0 0 1)-oriented due to the template effect of the perovskite structured LNO films. Dielectric constant of the PZT thin films remained almost constant with frequency in the range from 10³ to 10⁶ Hz, and tangent loss was as small as 0.02 at high frequencies. The remnant polarization and coercive field of an Au/PZT/LNO capacitor were typically 20 μC/cm² and 30 kV/cm, respectively. C–V and I–V characteristics revealed the capacitance and leakage current variations with applied voltage were asymmetric when the bottom electrode was negatively as well as positively biased, indicating that ferroelectric/electrode interfaces and space charges play an important role in the electrical properties of ferroelectric capacitors.     

Development of novel PZT thin films for active sliders based on head load/unload on demand systems

 Micromachined active sliders based on head load/unload on demand systems is an interesting concept technology for ultra-high magnetic recording density of more than 100 Gb/in². The active sliders that we proposed use PZT thin films as a microactuator and control the slider flying height of less than 10 nm. It is necessary to develop high performance microactuators in order to achieve active sliders operating at very low applied voltage. This paper describes the development of novel PZT thin films for active sliders. The sol–gel fabrication process for PZT thin films is developed and the fundamental characteristics for the PZT thin films are investigated. It is confirmed that the PZT thin films have good ferroelectric properties. Furthermore, novel thin film microactuators are proposed. The feature is that the sol–gel PZT thin films (thickness 540 nm) are deposited on the sputtered PZT thin films (thickness 300 nm) fabricated on bottom Pt/Ti electrodes. Therefore, the novel thin films consist of a thermal SiO₂ layer and the sputtered and sol–gel PZT thin films layers sandwiched with upper Pt and bottom Pt/Ti electrodes on a Si slider material. Fabricating the diaphragm microactuator, the piezoelectric properties for the novel composite PZT thin films are studied. As a result, the piezoelectric strain constant d ₃₁ for the novel PZT thin films is identified to be 130 × 10⁻¹² m/V. This value is higher than conventional monolithic PZT thin films and it is found that the novel composite PZT thin films have the good piezoelectric properties. This suggests the feasibility of realizing active sliders operating at lower voltage under about 10 V. Received: 22 June 2001/Accepted: 17 October 2001     

Enhanced room temperature response of SnO2 thin film sensor loaded with Pt catalyst clusters under UV radiation for LPG

The room temperature response characteristics of SnO₂ thin film sensor loaded with platinum catalyst clusters are investigated for LPG under the exposure of ultraviolet radiation. The SnO₂-Pt cluster sensor structures have been prepared using rf sputtering. Combined effect of UV radiation exposure (λ = 365 nm) and presence of Pt catalyst clusters (10 nm thick) on SnO₂ thin film sensor surface is seen to lead to an enhanced response (4.4 × 10³) for the detection of LPG (200 ppm) at room temperature whereas in the absence of UV illumination a comparable response (∼5 × 10³) could be obtained but only at an elevated temperature of 220 °C. The present study therefore investigates the effect of UV illumination on LPG sensing characteristics of SnO₂ sensors loaded with Pt clusters of varying thickness values. Results indicate the possibility of utilizing the sensor structure with novel dispersal of Pt catalyst clusters on SnO₂ film surface for efficient detection of LPG at room temperature under the illumination of UV radiations.     

A novel method for determining Young’s modulus of thin films by micro-strain gauges

This work presents a novel method for in-situ determining Youngs modulus of thin films at the wafer level by using a set of compact micromachined test structures and without any extra load applied to test such structures. The test structures comprise of a pair of micro-strain gauges with known Youngs modulus and a cantilever beam made of the measured film. The method utilizes inexpensive and available optical measuring equipment. An analytical model is derived to extract the Youngs modulus of the measured film. A conventional surface-sacrificial layer micromachining technique is used to fabricate the structures. The micro strain gauges employed in the measurement are made of low-pressure chemical-vapor deposition (LPCVD) undoped polycrystalline silicon films produced by Semiconductor Research Center (SRC) and the measured film is made of PECVD silicon nitride for demonstration. The average value of the obtained Youngs modulus of PECVD silicon nitride SiN_x is 170 ± 3 GPa by using strain gauges with a residual stress of 211 ± 10 MPa.This paper was supported by the National Science Council of the ROC under grant number NSC 92–2218-E-167–004. The staff of the Semiconductor Research Center at National Chiao Tung University are also appreciated, along with Dr. R. H. Horng for providing experiments at NCHU.Chi Hsiang Pan received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from National Chiao Tung University in 1984, M.S. Degree in mechanical engineering from National Sun Yi Xian University in 1989, and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, R.O.C. in 1998. He has been an associate professor of department of mechanical engineering in National Chin Yi Institute of Technology since 1998. His research interests are in microelectromechanical systems, including design, modeling and fabrication of microstructures and microactuators.     

Ferroelectric properties of direct-patterned half-micron thick PZT film

Ferroelectric properties of direct-patterned PZT(PbZr_0.52Ti_0.48O₃) films with 460 μm × 460 μm size and 510 nm thick were analyzed for applying to micro-detecting devices. A photosensitive solution containing ortho-nitrobenzaldehyde was used for the preparation of direct-patterned PZT film. PZT solution was coated on Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO₂/Si(1 0 0) substrate for three times to obtain half-micron thick film and three times of direct-patterning process were repeated to define a pattern on multi-layer PZT film. Through intermediate and final anneal procedure of direct-patterned PZT film, any shrinkage along horizontal direction was not observed within this experimental condition, i.e., the size of the pattern was preserved after annealing, only a thickness reduction was observed after each annealing treatment. Ferroelectric properties of direct-patterned PZT film with 460 μm × 460 μm size and 510 nm thick were compared with those of un-patterned conventional PZT film and shown to be almost the same. Through this work, the high potentiality of direct-patternable PZT film for applying to micro-devices without the introduction of physical damages from dry-etching could be confirmed.     

Effect of thickness of platinum catalyst clusters on response of SnO2 thin film sensor for LPG

This paper reports the sensing response characteristics of rf-sputtered SnO₂ thin films (90 nm thick) loaded with platinum catalyst cluster of varying thickness (2-20 nm) for LPG detection. The enhanced response (5 × 10³) was obtained for 200 ppm LPG with the presence of 10 nm thin and uniformly distributed Pt catalyst clusters on the surface of SnO₂ thin film at a relatively low operating temperature (220 °C). The high response for LPG is shown to be primarily due to the enhanced catalytic activity for adsorbed oxygen on the surface of SnO₂ thin film besides the spill over mechanism at elevated temperature.     

A patterning technique of lead zirconate titanate thin film by ultraviolet-light

The patterning technique of Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃ (PZT) thin film is an essential process in device fabrication processes for application in microsensors and microactuators. In this paper, a novel pattern technique is proposed for PZT thin film by UV photolysis processes. PZT thin films were first spin coated on the substrate and exposed by UV light for photolysis step. The UV photolysis step defined exposed and unexposed area by mask, and the pattern will be transferred to PZT thin film. After photolysis, PZT films were placed in non-ionic surfactant to remove unexposed area. Finally, PZT films were sintered at 650 °C in the furnace for crystallization. Experimental results showed that remnant polarization of patterned PZT film by UV photolysis was 21.4 μc cm^?2, which was compared to 17.24 μc cm^?2 by hot plate prolysis. Coercive fields were 45 and 104 kV cm^?1 by UV photolysis and hot plate prolysis, respectively. Dielectric loss was 0.027 by UV photolysis which was much smaller than 0.043 by hot plate prolysis. PZT thin films patterned by UV photolysis showed satisfactory geometries.     

Response time of nanostructured relative humidity sensors

Capacitive relative humidity (RH) sensors were fabricated by coating countersunk interdigitated electrode substrates with nanostructured TiO₂ films produced using glancing angle deposition. Areal capacitance increased from 1 nF cm⁻² to 800 nF cm⁻² as relative humidity was increased from 2% RH and 95% RH. For films deposited at 81° and with a thickness below 4 m, response time was (162±4) ms m⁻¹. Response times increased from 64 ms to 1440 ms as film thickness increased from 280 nm to 8.5 m. The linear dependence of response time with film thickness indicates that device response time is dominated by surface adsorption. Response time decreased with increasing deposition angle, with a slope of (−15.2±1.6) ms degree⁻¹ for the adsorption data, and (−17.3±2.5) ms degree⁻¹ for the desorption data. The optimum operating range of the sensors depends on deposition angle, and can be tuned to different ranges to match application needs.     

Metal-based piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems scanner composed of Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 thin film on titanium substrate

We have developed a titanium (Ti)-based piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems scanner driven by a Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃ (PZT) thin film for the development of laser scanning displays. The 2-μm-thick PZT thin film was directly deposited on a 50-μm-thick Ti substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Prior to PZT deposition, the Ti substrate was microfabricated into the shape of a horizontal scanner by wet etching; therefore, we could fabricate a piezoelectric microactuator without using the photolithography process. We confirmed the growth of the polycrystalline PZT film with perovskite structures on the Ti substrate. We achieved an optical scanning angle of 22° at a resonant frequency of 25.4?kHz using a driving voltage of 20?V _pp. These horizontal scanning properties can be applicable for laser displays.