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PECVD silicon carbide surface micromachining technology and selected MEMS applications

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Abstract

Attractive material properties of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposited (PECVD) silicon carbide (SiC) when combined with CMOS-compatible low thermal budget processing provides an ideal technology platform for developing various microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and merging them with integrated circuits. In this paper we present a generic surface micromachining technology developed using a stress-optimised PECVD SiC as the structural and encapsulation material for MEMS. An overview of selected MEMS applications realised, at DIMES Technology Center (DTC) of TU Delft, using the PECVD SiC surface micromachining technology is provided. Presented MEMS examples include—a pressure sensor, wafer-level thin-film packaging, RF switch and accelerometers. Potential applications for the presented technology include automotive, industrial and medical systems, where devices are often subjected to harsh environments.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the staff of Delft Institute of Microsystems and Nanoelectronics (DIMES) Technology Centre, TU Delft, NL, for their assistance during microfabrication, in particular, Mr. Charles de boer and Mr. Mario Laros. Special thanks are due to—Dr. Gregory Pandraud and Dr. Hoa T.M. Pham (TU Delft, NL) for helpful discussions, and Prof. Dr. Ronald Dekker (Philips Research/TU Delft, NL) and Prof. Dr. Kofi Makinwa (TU Delft, NL) for their kind support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microelectronics, EI Laboratory, Faculty of EEMCS, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Delft, The Netherlands

    Vijayekumar Rajaraman, Lukasz S. Pakula & Patrick J. French

  2. Department of Microelectronics, ECTM Laboratory, Faculty of EEMCS, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Delft, The Netherlands

    Pasqualina M. Sarro

  3. State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT-CAS), Shanghai, China

    Heng Yang

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  1. Vijayekumar Rajaraman
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  2. Lukasz S. Pakula
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  3. Heng Yang
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  4. Patrick J. French
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  5. Pasqualina M. Sarro
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Correspondence to Vijayekumar Rajaraman.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12572-011-0035-x

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Rajaraman, V., Pakula, L.S., Yang, H. et al. PECVD silicon carbide surface micromachining technology and selected MEMS applications. Int J Adv Eng Sci Appl Math 2, 28–34 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12572-010-0020-9

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