ANGEL

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
AND TECHNOLOGY
TIRUPUR 641 665

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS

ENGINEERING
AS PER ANNA UNIVERSITY
REGULATION 2008
EE2033 MICRO ELECTRO MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
IV YEAR ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
PREPARED BY
APPROVED BY

Mrs.C.K.Vijayalakshmi,AP/EEE
Dr.A.Pandian HOD/EEE

UNIT I- INTRODUCTION - MICRO ELECTRO MECHANICAL

SYSTEMS
PART - A
1. Define band gap.
The statistically minimal energy needed to excite a covalently bonded electron to
become free charge carrier is called the band gap of the semiconductor material.
2. What do you mean by in- situ doping?
The intentional introduction of impurities, called doping, would turn as intrinsic
material into an extrinsic semiconductor material. Impurities can be introduced into
number of ways, most notably through diffusion and ion implantation. They can also
be incorporated into semiconductor lattice during the growth of material as well. This
process is called in-situ doping.
3. Define mean free path.
Mean free path is the average distance travelled by a moving particle (such as an
atom, a molecule, a photon) between successive impacts (collisions), which modify
its direction or energy or other particle properties.
4. Define sheet resistivity.
For a uniformly doped layer, the sheet resistivity is defined as:

The sheet resistivity is normally expressed as ohms/square or /

For non-uniformly doped n-type layers, ie., if is non-uniform:

The sheet resistivity of an emitter layer is typically measured with a four-point-probe.

5. Define elastic modulus.
An elastic modulus, or modulus of elasticity, is the mathematical description of an
object or substance's tendency to be deformed elastically (i.e., non-permanently)

when a force is applied to it.

6. Define beam.
A beam is structure member subjected to lateral roads, that is, forces or moments having
their vectors perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
7. What do you mean by cantilever?
A beam fixed at one end and free at another is conveniently referred to as fixed free
beam, commonly called a cantilever.
8. Name some commonly encountered beam structures in MEMS.
Double - clamped suspension structures and single-clamped cantilevers.
9. What are the three preparatory steps required to calculate the curvature of the
beam.
Three preparatory steps:
1. Find the moment of inertia with respect to the neutral axis
2. Find the state of force and torque along the length of beam
3. Identify boundary conditions. Two boundary conditions are necessary to
deterministically find a solution.
10. Why intrinsic stress is important for MEMS devices.
Intrinsic stress is important for MEMS devices because it can cause deformation damages
in excessive cases, affect surface planarity, or change the stiffness of mechanical element.
11. Name the material having zero stress.
Single crystal bulk silicon.
12. What are the strategies for minimizing undesirable intrinsic bending?
The strategies are:
1. Use materials that inherently have zero or very low intrinsic stress.
2. For materials whose intrinsic stress depends on material processing parameter, fine
tune the stress by calibrating and controlling deposition conditions.
3. Use multiple layered structures to compensate stress-induced bending.
13. What do you mean by quality factor (Q)?
The sharpness of resonant peak is characterized by a term called the quality factor. The
sharper the resonance peak, the higher the quality factor.

14. Define stress and explain tensile and compressive stress.

Stress is defined as the external force applied per unit area. When body is subjected to
equal and opposite pulls, it elongates. The resistance offered to this elongation is tensile
stress. If body is subjected to equal and opposite pushes, it contracts and the resistance
offered to this contraction is compressive stress.
15. Define strain and explain tensile and compressive strain.
It is the ratio of change in dimension to the original dimension. The strain corresponding
to the tensile stress is called tensile strain and it is defined as the ratio of the increase in
the length to the original length. The strain corresponding to the compressive stress is
called as compressive strain. It is defined as the ratio of decrease in length to the original
length.
16. Define shear stress and shear strain.
The two equal and opposite force act tangentially on any cross sectional plane of the
body tending to slide one part of the body over the other part. The stress induced is called
shear stress and the corresponding strain is known as shear strain. Or Shear stress is the
resistance offered to the force applied. It is the ratio of shear force to shear area. The
corresponding strain is called as shear strain.
17. State Hooks law and explain elastic limit.
It states that within elastic limit, the ratio of the stress and strain is a constant.
Elastic limit is a point on the stress strain diagram below which the body regains its
original shape when deformed, not necessarily obeying the hooks law.
18. What you mean by thermal stresses?
If the body is allowed to expand or contract freely, with the rise or fall of temperature no
stress is developed but if free expansion is prevented the stress developed is called
temperature or thermal stress and the corresponding strain is temperature strain.
Thermal stress = . T. E , Thermal strain = . T
A= the coefficient of thermal expansion of the material, T = change in temperature
19. What is bending moment?
The algebraic sum of the bending moment due to all the individual forces to the right or
to the right of the section.
20. What are the types of the beam?

The different types of the beam are: a. Fixed beam b. Cantilever beam c. Simply
supported beam. d. Over hanging beam e. Continuous beam.
PART - B
1. Briefly explain about crystal planes and orientation in MEMS.
2. In detail explain about the relation between tensile stress and strains also give the details
of mechanical properties of silicon.
3. Explain in detail about longitudinal strain under pure bending.
4. In brief explain about dynamic system, resonant frequency, and quality factor.
5. In general discuss about intrinsic stress in MEMS.
6. Discuss in detail about torsional deflections.
7. A mechanical resonator has been demonstrated using SiC thin film material. The length,
width and thickness of resonator are 1.1m, 120nm, and 75nm, respectively. Knowing the
resonant frequency found experimentally was 1.014GHz, and assuming a Youngs
modulus of 700 GPa, find the density of the SiC material used for resonator.
10

8. The intrinsic carrier concentration (n i) of silicon under room temperature is 1.5X10 /cm . A
silicon piece is doped with phosphorous to a concentration of 10

18

-3

cm .
2

The mobility of electrons and holes in the silicon are approximately 1350 cm /V-s and
2

480 cm /V-s, respectively. Find the resistivity of the doped bulk silicon.
9.

Give the relation between stress and strain in brief.

10. Discuss in detail about photolithography process and also about Czochralski (CZ) method
for producing single crystal silicon.

UNIT II SENSORS AND ACTUATORS-I

PART A
1. What are the major advantages of electrostatic sensing and actuation?
Simplicity: The sensing and actuation principles are relatively easy to implement,
requiring only two conducting surfaces.
Low power: Electrostatic actuation relies on differential voltage rather than current. The
method is generally considered energy efficient for low frequency applications. This is
especially true under static conditions, when no current is involved.
Fast response: Electrostatic sensing and actuation offers high dynamic response speed, as
the transition speed is governed by the charging and discharging time constants that are
typically small for good conductors.
2. Define electrical spring constant.
The spatial gradient of the electric force is defined as an electrical spring constant.
3. What do you mean by pull-in voltage?
At particular bias voltage, the two curves representing the mechanical restoring force and
the electrostatic force intercept at one point tangentially. At the interception point, the
electrostatic and mechanical restoring forces balance each other. Moreover, the
magnitude of the electric force constant equals the mechanical force constant. The
effective force constant of spring is zero. This is a special condition and should be dealt
with carefully in practice. The bias voltage that invokes such a condition is called the pull
in voltage, or Vp.
4. What do you understand about comb drive device?
Generally, one set of finger like electrode is fixed on chip while second set is suspended
and free to move in one or more axis. Since the interdigitated fingers are sharped like
tooth of combs, such configuration is commonly referred to as comb drive device.
5. What are the two configurations of electrostatic transducer?
Parallel plate and interdigitated comb drive.
6. What is the relative disadvantage of electrostatic actuation?
High voltage required for static actuator operation is considered a drawback.

7. What are the two different movements by which parallel plate capacitor is moved?
(i)

Normal displacement. (ii) Parallel sliding displacement

8. Which factor determines the pressure sensor sensitivity?

The membrane thickness is a primary factor determining the pressure sensor sensitivity.
9. What are the advantages of capacitive pressure sensor?
Greater pressure sensitivity
Lower temperature sensitivity
Reduced power consumption
10. Which type of pressure sensor is suited for parallel capacitive sensing?
Membrane based pressure sensor is ideally suited for parallel capacitive sensing.
11. What is the principle of capacitive pressure sensor?
Capacitive pressure sensors are typically based upon a parallel plate arrangement
whereby one electrode is fixed and the other flexible. As the flexible electrode deflects
under applied pressure, the gap between electrodes decreases and the capacitance
increases.
12. What is the main drawback associated with capacitive approach of sensor?
The main drawbacks associated with the capacitive approach are the inherently nonlinear
output of the sensor and the complexity of electronics (compared with the resistive
bridge).
13. How nonlinearity can be avoided in capacitive pressure sensor?
The use of bossed diaphragms will mitigate this effect to some degree. Another
linearizing approach is to pattern the electrodes such that the sensing capacitance is
measured from a particular part of the diaphragm. Maximum deflection occurs at the
diaphragm center but this is also the location of maximum nonlinearity. By sensing the
capacitance at an annulus removed a short distance from the diaphragm center, nonlinearity is reduced but at the expense of sensitivity.
14. How can be the parasitic capacitance avoided?
In order to reduce the effects of parasitic capacitance and achieve higher performance
devices, the pressure sensor should ideally be integrated with electronics. This is
achieved by combining a bulk-etched device with basic CMOS circuitry, but the more
common solution is to employ surface micromachining.

15. What is the widely practiced method for depositing structural and sacrificial
materials?
(CVD) Chemical Vapour Deposition
16. What are the two types of CVD?
Low pressure chemical vapour deposition
Plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition
17. What are the various advantages Comb-drive structures exhibit?
They have no sliding surfaces making them virtually showing no wear. The force of the
drives is independent of the position of the combs when one uses (the preferred) voltage
control.
18. What are the major performance objectives in micro motor fabrication process?
Friction reduction and wear resistance.
19. How the sacrificial layers are removed in the process of micro-motor fabrication?
Sacrificial layers are removed by immersing the wafer into HF etch solutions.
20. How to avoid friction and wear problem in micro-fabrication process?
The solution to the problem is to reduce the friction coefficient between rotor and hub by
making contact surfaces out of silicon nitride.

PART B
1. Explain in detail about the principle and working of electrostatic motor.
2. Discuss in brief about capacitance of parallel plates.
3. What do you understand by Equilibrium position of Electrostatic Actuator under bias?
4. What is Pull In effect of parallel plate actuators? Explain in detail about it.
5. Discuss in detail about parallel plate capacitive accelerometer.
6. What do you understand by membrane parallel plate pressure sensor?
7. Explain the fabrication process of condenser microphone.
8. Explain in detail about the operation principle of scratch drive actuators.
9. What are the applications of comb drive devices?
10. A parallel plate capacitor is suspended by two fixed guided cantilever beams, each with

length, width and thickness denoted l, w and t, respectively. The material is polysilicon
with Youngs modulus of 120 GPa.(l=400m,w=10m, and t=1m.) The gap Xo between
two plates is 2 m. The area of the plate is 400m by 400m. Calculate the amount of
vertical displacement when a voltage of 0.4 volts is applied. Repeat the calculation of
displacement for the voltage of 0.2 volts.

UNIT III SENSORS AND ACTUATORS-II

PART A
1. Define thermal conduction.
It is the transfer of heat through a solid media in the presence of a temperature gradient.
2. What is Natural thermal convection?
It is the transfer of heat from a surface into a stationary body of fluid. A temperature
gradient in a fluid induces local flow movement through buoyancy. The movement of
fluid mass facilitates heat transfer.
3. What do you understand by the term forced thermal convection?
It is the transfer of heat to a body of moving fluid. The bulk fluid movement provides
enhanced heat transfer compared with that of natural convection.
4. Define the term radiation.
It represents the loss or gain of heat through electromagnetic radiation propagating in
vacuum or air.
5. What do you mean by specific heat?
It is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise the temperature of an object by one
degree Celsius or Kelvin.
6. Define TCE.
The volumetric thermal expansion coefficient is the ration between relative changes of
volume to the degree of temperature variation.
7. What do you understand by linear expansion coefficient?
The linear expansion coefficient is the change of only one dimension of an object due to
temperature variation.
8. What is thermal bimorph principle?
Two different materials, with different coefficients of thermal expansion, are joined
together in such a way, that a temperature change will cause the entire structure to deform
in a desired way.
9. What are the advantages of thermal bimetallic actuation?
Relatively large range of movement can be achieved.

 Small actuator footprint for comparable displacement.

10. What are the disadvantages of thermal bimetallic actuation?

Moderate to high power operation as current is used to generate ohmic heating.
Lower response speed as the time constant is governed by thermal heating and
dissipation.
11. What are the advantages of Electrostatic actuation?
Low power operation at low frequencies.
High response speed.
12. What are the disadvantages of Electrostatic actuation?
Relatively small range of motion.
Requires large area and footprint in order to generate large force and
displacement.
13. What are the different ways of generating heat?
Electromagnetic wave absorption
Resistive heating
Conduction
Convection
14. What is meant by bent beam thermal actuators?
This structure will generate longer displacement than the thermal expansion of two arms
depending on the design angle.
15. What is meant by lateral thermal actuators?
Longer arm has higher electrical and thermal resistance hence is hotter hence expands
more causing lateral displacement. Wider arm has lower electrical and thermal resistance,
hence is colder causing lateral displacement.
16. What do you mean by thermocouple?
Two wires made of dissimilar materials joined at one point constitute a thermal couple. A
thermal couple is most commonly used to measure the temperature difference between
the joined sensing junction and a reference one. It is also used for generating electricity
from a temperature gradient between their two junctions.
17. What is seeback coefficient?

The ratio between the developed open circuit voltage and the temperature difference is
the seeback coefficient.
18. What is thermal pile?
The output voltage from thermal couples will be increased when multiple thermal couples
are connected in an end to end fashion, with hot and cold junctions aligned. This
configuration is called a thermal pile.
19. What is thermal resistor?
A thermal resistor is an electrical resistor with appreciable temperature sensitivity.
20. What is the term thermistor referred to?
The term thermistor is generally used to refer to semiconducting thermo-resistors.
A thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance varies significantly with temperature,
more so than in standard resistors. The word is portmanteau of thermal and resistor.
Thermistors are widely used as inrush current limiters, temperature sensors, self-resetting
over current protectors, and self regulating heating elements.

PART B
1. Explain briefly about heat transfer processes associated with pot heating.
2. With neat diagram explain about thermal bimorph principle.
3. Discuss about bimetallic artificial cilia actuator in detail.
4. With neat sketch explain about bimetallic actuators for object transport.
5. In detail explain about thermal couples.
6. Discuss in detail about thermal resistors.
7. Discuss in detail about accelerometer based on thermal transfer principle.
8. Explain about fabrication process of surface micro-machined hot-wire anemometer.
9. In detail explain about thermal transfer shear stress sensor.
10. Discuss about bimetallic structure for infrared sensing.

UNIT IV MICROMACHINING
PART - A
1. What is dielectric effect of piezoelectricity?
It was observed that certain materials generate an electric charge when it
is under a mechanical stress. This is known as dielectric effect of
piezoelectricity.
2. What is inverse effect of piezoelectricity?
The material would be able to produce a mechanical deformation when an
electric field is applied to it.
3. Define Curie point.
If a piezoelectric element is heated to certain threshold temperature, the
crystal vibration may be so strong that domains become disordered and
the element becomes completely depolarized. This critical temperature is
called Curie point.
4. What do you mean by electromechanical coupling coefficient?
Electromechanical coupling coefficient k is a measure of how much
energy is transferred from electrical to mechanical or vice versa during the
actuation process.
5. What is the most familiar application of quartz crystal?
The most familiar use of quartz crystal, a natural piezoelectric material is
resonator in watches.
6. Which unique property of quartz enables it to be used in quartz
crystal oscillator?
The property of its oscillation frequency is quite insensitive to
temperature changes make it to be used in quartz crystal oscillator.
7. Define Sputtering.
Sputtering is a form of Physical Vapor Deposition. It is used to deposit
thin metal films in the order of 100 A (1A = 10-10 m) onto the substrate
surface. Sputtering process is carried out with plasmas under very low
pressure in high vacuum up to 5x10-7 torr and at room temperature. No
chemical reaction is involved in the deposition process.

8. What is the primary application of acoustic wave sensor?

Primary application of these sensors is to act like band filters in mobile
telephones and base stations.
9. What are the secondary applications of acoustic wave sensor?
Sensing of torques and tire pressures.
Sensing biological and chemical substances.
Sensing vapors, humidity and temperature.
Monitor fluid flow in micro-fluidics.
10. What are the two common types of micro pressure sensor?

Sensors using piezo-resistors.

Sensors using capacitances.

11. What are the characteristics of sensor using piezo-resistors?

Small in size Linear I/O relation Temperature sensitive.
12. What is PVDF?
The poly-vinylidenfluoride is a synthetic fluoropolymer with monomer
chains of (-CH2-CF2-)n. It exhibits piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and
ferroelectric properties, excellent stability to chemicals, mechanical
flexibility, and biocompatibility.
13. What are the assumptions to be made for calculating curvature of
bending of a compact model?
The induced stress and strain should be along axis 1 or the
longitudinal axis of the Cantilever. The beam maintains constant
curvature throughout the beam.
Shear effects are negligible.
Beam curvature due to intrinsic stress may be ignored .
Poissons ratio is isotropic for all films.
14. What do you understand by PZT?
The lead zirconatetitanate (PZT) system is widely used in polycrystalline
form with very high piezoelectric coupling. The name PZT actually
represents a family of piezoelectric materials. Depending on the formula
of preparation, PZT materials may have different forms and properties.

15. What are the different methods of producing PZT materials?

Different methods of producing PZT materials are sputtering, laser
ablation, jet molding and electrostatic spray deposition.
16. Name the material used as bonding agent in preparing PZT
materials?
Lithium carbonate and bismuth oxide are used as bonding agent in
preparing PZT materials.
17. How are ZnO materials grown?
ZnO materials are grown using rf or dc sputtering, ion plating and
chemical vapor deposition.
18. What are the applications of piezoelectric materials?

Cantilever piezoelectric accelerometer membrane.

Piezoelectric accelerometer PZT.

Piezoelectric acoustic sensor PZT.

Piezoelectric microphone.

Polymer piezoelectric tactile sensor.

19. Why ZnO is used instead of PZT?

ZnO is used instead of PZT, because, although the PZT material offers
greater piezoelectric coefficient, it does so at the expense of greater
dielectric constant and hence larger capacitance.
20. How are the electrical noise and impedance mismatch effects reduced
in polymer piezoelectric tactile sensor?
To reduce electrical noise and impedance mismatch effects, a two
dimensional matrix of high input impedance metal oxide semiconductor
field effect transistor amplifiers have been directly gate contact coupled to
the lower surface of a piezoelectric PVDF polymer film.

PART B
1. Discuss about mathematical description of piezoelectric effects.
2. A 500m long cantilever type piezoelectric actuator is made of two
layers, a ZnO layer and a poly-silicon layer. The width, thickness and
material properties of these two layers are listed in table. Find the
amount of vertical displacement at the end of cantilever and the
transverse force at the end when the applied voltage is 10v.
Width (m)
Thickness (m)
Youngs modulus
(GPa)
Piezoelectric coefficient
(pC/N)

ZnO
20
1
160

Poly-silicon
20
2
160

NA

3. In brief discuss about properties of representative PZT materials.

4. What do you know about PVDF and ZnO? Explain in detail about it.
5. Discuss about ZnO piezoelectric actuator.
6. With neat sketch explain about cantilever piezoelectric accelerometer.
7. Discuss about membrane piezoelectric accelerometer with neat diagram.
8. Discuss about PZT piezoelectric acoustic sensor in detail.
9. In detail explain about PZT piezoelectric Microphone.
10. Discuss about piezoelectric flow rate sensor.

UNIT V - POLYMER AND OPTICAL MEMS

PART A
1. Define magnetization.
A magnetic field may cause internal magnetic polarization of a piece of
magnetic material within the field. This phenomenon is called
magnetization.
2. Define magnetic field intensity.
Magnetic field intensity (H) represents the driving magnetic influence
external to a magnetic material.
3. What do you mean by magnetic field density?
Magnetic field density (B) represents the induced total magnetic field
inside a piece of magnetic material.
4. What do you understand by paramagnetic and diamagnetic material?
A magnetic material with a weak and positive magnetic susceptibility is
called paramagnetic; one with a weak and negative magnetic
susceptibility is diamagnetic.
5. What is saturation magnetization?
After the external induction field reaches a certain level magnetization
will reach a saturation point, called saturation magnetization.
6. Define remanence.
The fraction of the saturation magnetization which is retained after
Magnetic field intensity is removed is called remanence of the material.
7. What are the classes of ferro-magnets?
The two classes are hard magnets and soft magnets.
8. How are the external magnetic field classified?
The external magnetic field is classified as: uniform magnetic field and
non uniform magnetic field.
9. Define seed layer.
In many cases, the wafer is not conductive on its own. Under these
circumstances, the surface of a wafer is first coated with a thin film metal
layer for providing negative electric biasing. This thin film layer is called
the seed layer.

10. What are the advantages of magnetic actuation?

Capable of generating large angular displacement.
The possibility of using very strong magnetic as bias.
11. What are the disadvantages of magnetic actuation?
Moderately complex processes.
Difficulty to form on chip, high efficiency solenoids.
12. What are the major benefits of using micro-fluid platforms to replace
bench top chemistry?
Reduces dead volumes associated with a chemical assay system
with large scale chambers and connectors.
Can potentially reduce cost by saving the amount of expensive
chemicals and biological samples used for given analysis.
A microelectronic style bulk fabrication will reduce cost of
sophisticated systems.
Can achieve high level of multiplicity and parallel operations to
increase the efficiency of chemical and biological discovery.
13. What do you understand about cells?
Cells are basic functional units of life. The function of cell is determined
by the genetic sequence it carries. A basic human cell stores genetic codes,
reproduces such codes upon cell division, and manufactures protein
molecules based on such codes.
14. What are the most commonly exploited biological binding protocols?
Binding between antibody and antigens.
Binding between biotin and streptavidin molecules.
DNA complementary binding.

15. What are the several important factors to be considered when

selecting technologies for on chip pumps?

 Achievable flow rate.

Simplicity of fabrication.
Cost of fabrication.
Simplicity of control.
Robustness of the membrane.
Biocompatibility of membrane and channel materials.
16. What do you mean by flow resistance of a channel?
The ratio between the pressure difference and the volumetric flow rate is
called flow resistance of a channel.
17. What is electric double layer?
The high capacitance charged region of ions at the interface of liquid and
wall is referred to as the electric double layer.
18. What are the factors to be considered when selecting or developing a
micro-machined valve?
The reliability of valve operation.
The repeatability of valve operation.
The ability to withstand large pressure.
The simplicity of valve construction.
The simplicity of valve operation and control.
19. How are the valves classified according to the mode of operations?
Cyclic valves, One-time valves and Constant off valves.
20. How is the valve structures categorized?
Hard-membrane valves.
Soft-membrane valves.
Plug valves.
Threshold valves.

PART -B

1. Describe about design and fabrication of magnetic cell.

2. Explain about magnetic beam actuation in detail.
3. Describe about hybrid magnetic actuator with position holding.
4. Discuss in detail about the method of pressure driven flow fluid movement.
5. Discuss about electro-osmosis flow process in detail.
6. Explain about integrated gas chromatography system with neat sketch.
7. In detail explain about fabrication process of embedded micro channels.
8. In detail explain about fabrication process for a parylene channel.
9. Discuss about pneumatic controlled PDMS valve.
10. Discuss about optical MEMS and its applications.