Lectures on MEMS and Microsystems Design and Manufacture

Chapter 7
Materials for MEMS and Microsystems

This chapter will cover the materials used in “silicon-based” MEMS and
microsystems. As such, silicon will be the principal material to be studied.

Other materials to be dealt with are silicon compounds such as: SiO2,
SiC, Si3N4 and polysilicon.

Also will be covered are electrically conducting of silicon piezoresistors

and piezoelectric crystals for electromechanical actuations and signal
transductions.

An overview of polymers, which are the “rising stars” to be used as MEMS

and microsystems substrate materials, will be studied too.
 Silicon – an ideal substrate material for MEMS

● Silicon (Si) is the most abundant material on earth. It almost always exists in
compounds with other elements.

● Single crystal silicon is the most widely used substrate material for MEMS
and microsystems.

● The popularity of silicon for such application is primarily for the following
reasons:

(1) It is mechanically stable and it is feasible to be integrated into electronics

on the same substrate (b/c it is a semiconducting material).

(2) Electronics for signal transduction such as the p or n-type piezoresistive

can be readily integrated with the Si substrate-ideal for transistors.

(3) Silicon is almost an ideal structure material. It has about the same
Young’s modulus as steel (∼ 2x105 MPa), but is as light as aluminum
with a density of about 2.3 g/cm3.
 Silicon – an ideal substrate material for MEMS-Cont’d

(4) It has a melting point at 1400oC, which is about twice higher than that of
aluminum. This high melting point makes silicon dimensionally stable
even at elevated temperature.

(5) Its thermal expansion coefficient is about 8 times smaller than that of
steel, and is more than 10 times smaller than that of aluminum.

(6) Silicon shows virtually no mechanical hysteresis. It is thus an ideal

candidate material for sensors and actuators.

(7) Silicon wafers are extremely flat for coatings and additional thin film
layers for either being integral structural parts, or performing precise
electromechanical functions.

(8) There is a greater flexibility in design and manufacture with silicon than
with other substrate materials. Treatments and fabrication processes
for silicon substrates are well established and documented.
 Single-Crystal Silicon
● For silicon to be used as a substrate material in integrated circuits and
MEMS, it has to be in a pure single-crystal form.
● The most commonly used method of producing single-crystal silicon is the
Czochralski (CZ) method.

The Czochralski method for producing single-crystal silicon

Puller Equipment: a crucible and a “puller”.

Quartz
crucible Graphite
Seed susceptor Procedure:
crystal (1) Raw Si (quartzite) + coal, coke, woodchips)
Silicon
boule are melted in the crucible.
Heating element

(2) A “seed” crystal is brought to be in contact

Heating element

with molten Si to form larger crystal.

Silicon melt (3) The “puller” slowly pulls the molten Si up
to form pure Si “boule” after the
solidification.
(4) The diameters of the “bologna-like” boules
vary from 100 mm (4”) to 300 mm (12”) in
diameters.
Chemical reaction for the process: SiC + SiO2 → Si + CO + SiO
Pure silicon wafers

Pure silicon boules of 300 mm

diameter and 30 ft long, can
weigh up to 400 Kg.
A pure silicon boule

These boules are sliced into

300 mm
thin disks (wafers) using 200 mm
wafer
diamond saws. wafer

Standard sizes of wafers are:

100 mm (4”) diameter x 500 µm thick.

150 mm (6”) diameter x 750 µm thick.
200 mm (8”) diameter x 1 mm thick
300 mm (12”) diameter x 750 µm thick (tentative).
Single Silicon Crystal Structure

● Single silicon crystals are basically of “face-cubic-center” (FCC)

structure.
● The crystal structure of a typical FCC crystal is shown below:
z
Atoms

Lattice

x
Note: Total number of atoms: 8 at corners and 6 at faces = 14 atoms
 Single Silicon Crystal Structure-Cont’d

● Single crystal silicon, however has 4 extra atoms in the interior.

● The situation is like to merge two FCC crystals together as shown below:

(a) Merger of two FCC (b) Merged crystal structure

● Total no. of atoms in a single silicon crystal = 18.

● The unsymmetrical distribution of atoms within the crystal make pure

silicon anisotropic in its mechanical properties.

● In general, however, we treat silicon as an isotropic material.

The Miller Indices
● Miller indices are commonly use to describe the faces of crystalline materials.
z
● A plane intersects x, y and z-coordinates at
P(x,y,z) a, b and c.
c y
b
● A point on the plane located at P(x,y,z)
a
● The equation defines the P(x,y,z) is:
x y z
x + + =1 (7.1)
a b c
Express Eq. (7.1) in a different form:
hx + ky + mz = 1 (7.2)
in which h = 1/a, k = 1/b and k = 1/c.

● Miller indices involve:

(hkm) = designation of a “face”, or a plane;

<hkm> = designation of a direction that is perpendicular to the (hkm) plane.

● NOTE: In a cubic crystal, such as silicon, a = b = c = 1

The 3 Distinct Planes of a Cubic Crystal
z
z z

y
y y

x
x x
Figure A Figure B Figure C

Top face: Plane (001) Diagonal face: Plane (110) Incline face:
Plane (111)
Right face: Plane (010)

Front face: Plane (100)

The 3 Principal Planes of a Silicon Crystal
(y) <001>
z
(001)

The (100) group (010)

(100)
y (x)<100>

x (z)<010>

The (110) group The (111) group

z
z

y
y

x
x
The 3 Principal Planes of a Silicon Crystal-Cont’d
0.543 nm 0.768 nm 0.768 nm

0.768 nm
(100) Plane (110) Plane (111) Plane
Diagonal Plane Inclined Plane
●Characteristics of silicon by principal planes:

(1) The (100) planes contain least number of atoms→ the weakest plane
→ easiest to work with.
(2) The (110) planes offers the cleanest surfaces in micro fabrications.
(3) The (111) contains shortest bonds between atoms → strongest plane
→ toughest to work with.
Miller Index for Orientation Young’s Modulus, E (GPa) Shear Modulus, G (GPa)

<100> 129.5 79.0

<110> 168.0 61.7

<111> 186.5 57.5

NOTE: The (100) plane makes an angle of 54.74o with the (111) plane.
 (Bulk) Mechanical and Thermophysical Properties of Silicon

Legend: σy = yield strength; E = Young’s modulus; ρ = mass density; C = specific heat;

k = thermal conductivity; α = coefficient of thermal expansion, TM = melting point.

σy E ρ C k α TM
(109 N/m2) (1011 N/m2) (g/cm3) (J/g-oC) (W/cm-oC) (10-6/oC) (oC)

Si 7.00 1.90 2.30 0.70 1.57 2.33 1400

SiC 21.00 7.00 3.20 0.67 3.50 3.30 2300
Si3N4 14.00 3.85 3.10 0.69 0.19 0.80 1930
SiO2 8.40 0.73 2.27 1.00 0.014 0.50 1700
Aluminum 0.17 0.70 2.70 0.942 2.36 25 660
Stainless Steel 2.10 2.00 7.90 0.47 0.329 17.30 1500
Copper 0.07 0.11 8.9 0.386 3.93 16.56 1080
GaAs 2.70 0.75 5.30 0.35 0.50 6.86 1238
Ge 1.03 5.32 0.31 0.60 5.80 937
Quartz 0.5-0.7 0.76-0.97 2.66 0.82-1.20 0.067-0.12 7.10 1710

* Principal source for semiconductor material properties: “Fundamentals of Microfabrication”, Marc

Madou, CRC Press, 1997
 Silicon Compounds
There are 3 principal silicon compounds used in MEMS and microsystems:
Silicon dioxide (SiO2), Silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) – each
Has distinct characteristic and unique applications.

Silicon dioxide (SiO2)

● It is least expensive material to offer good thermal and electrical insulation.

● Also used a low-cost material for “masks” in micro fabrication processes

such as etching, deposition and diffusion.

● Used as sacrificial material in “surface micromachining”.

● Above all, it is very easy to produce:

- by dry heating of silicon: Si + O2 → SiO2

- or by oxide silicon in wet steam: Si + 2H2O → SiO2 + 2H2

Silicon dioxide (SiO2) – cont’d

Properties Values
Density (g/cm3) 2.27
Resistivity (Ω-cm) ≥1016
Dielectric constant 3.9
Melting point (oC) ∼1700
Specific heat (J/g/oC) 1.0
Thermal conductivity (W/cm/oC) 0.014
Coefficient of thermal expansion (ppm/oC) 0.5

Silicon carbide (SiC)

Its very high melting point and resistance to chemical reactions make it ideal
candidate material for being masks in micro fabrication processes.

It has superior dimensional stability.

 Silicon nitride (Si3N4)
● Produced by chemical reaction:
3SiCl2H2 + 4NH3 → Si3N4 + 6HCL + 6H2
● Used as excellent barrier to diffusion to water and ions.
● Its ultra strong resistance to oxidation and many etchants make it a
superioro material for masks in deep etching.
A
● Also used as high strength electric insulators.
● Selected properties Si3N4 films are as follows:

Properties LPCVD* PECVD**

Deposition temperature (oC) 700-800 250-350
Density (g/cm3) 2.9-3.2 2.4-2.8
Film quality Excellent Poor
Dielectric constant 6-7 6-9
Resistivity (Ω-cm) 1016 10 -1015
6

Refractive index 2.01 1.8-2.5

Atom % H 4-8 20-25
Etch rate in concentrated HF 200 A/min
Etch rate in boillng HF 5-10A/min
Poisson’s ratio 0.27
Young’s modulus (GPa) 385
Coefficient of thermal expansion, ppm/oC 1.6
* Low pressure chemical vapor deposition; ** Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition
 Polycrystalline silicon

● It is usually called “Polysilicon”.

● It is an aggregation of pure silicon crystals with randomly orientations

deposited on the top of silicon substrates:
Random small
polysilicon grains

A few microns
Oxide layer

Silicon substrate ∼µm

● These polysilicon usually are highly doped silicon.

● They are deposited to the substrate surfaces to produce localized

“resistors” and “gates for transistors”

● Being randomly oriented, polysilicon is even stronger than single silicon

crystals.
Polycrystalline silicon – cont’d

Comparison of Mechanical Properties of Polysilicon with Other Materials

Materials Young’s modulus Poisson’s ratio Coefficient of

(GPa) thermal expansion
(ppm/oC)
As substrates:
Silicon 190 0.23 2.6
Alumina 415 8.7
Silica 73 0.17 0.4

As thin films:
Polysilicon 160 0.23 2.8
Thermal SiO2 70 0.2 0.35
LPCVD SiO2 270 0.27 1.6
PACVD SiO2 2.3
Aluminum 70 0.35 25
Tungsten 410 0.28 4.3
Polymide 3.2 0.42 20-70