Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
This invention relates to features incorporated into a substrate to reduce stiction between a MEMS device built upon the substrate and the substrate.
Moveable devices such as sensors and actuators are now often fabricated on a substrate surface using lithographic processing previously used to manufacture semiconductor electronic devices. Such moveable devices and their associated processing techniques are known as microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS.
MEMS are generally processed using one of two different methods. One method, referred to as surface micro machining, entails the device being fabricated by the building or stacking of layers of materials. Some of these materials may be structural, while other materials may be sacrificial in nature, and are used to create spacing between device features. These sacrificial materials will be removed prior to the complete fabrication of the device. The second method, referred to as bulk micro machining, entails the bonding of substrates and sacrificial layers first. The devices are then formed in the bonded substrates by various etching techniques. The devices are freed by removing the sacrificial layers in between the substrates. Bulk micro machining generally uses silicon-on-insulator(SOI) technology. The technology consists of two or more silicon substrates bonded together with a silicon dioxide sacrificial layer in between them One of the silicon substrates is referred to as the “handle” wafer, and may be the base of the SOI wafer. The second substrate is referred to as the “device” layer. This layer is generally thinned down to a range of about 0.5 μm to about 100 μm The device itself will be fabricated in this substrate.
An exemplary SOI substrate is shown in
Because of the small size of the MEMS structures, they may have relatively little structural rigidity, and may, during the course of fabrication or after completion, bend down and touch the handle wafer. Upon touching the substrate, the devices may become adhered to the substrate surface by stiction forces or meniscus forces. Such meniscus forces may occur, for example, upon etching a layer beneath the moveable member with a wet etching solution, and then drying the etching solution from the substrate. Because the small devices may have relatively low torque or low rigidity, they may be unable to free themselves after becoming adhered to the substrate surface, rendering the devices non-functional.
Because of this tendency for MEMS devices to become adhered to the substrate surface, a number of techniques have been proposed for reducing the stiction between the device and the substrate surface. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,572 to Core, et al., teaches the use of photoresist pedestals which are inserted into a sacrificial layer between a suspended MEMS device and the substrate surface. Photoresist spacers are inserted in the MEMS microstructure layer between non-contacting portions of the suspended MEMS microstructure so that the photoresist pedestals and spacers support the microstructure bridge during the wet etching and drying process used to remove the sacrificial layer.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,538,798 to Miller et al. teaches stiction plugs which are formed on an optical membrane structure which is separated from the support substrate by an electrostatic cavity. The plugs extend from a surface of the membrane, and may be hollow to allow subsequent release of the underlying sacrificial layer. The plugs reduce the stiction forces by reducing the contact area between the membrane and the support substrate.
Finally, it has been proposed to coat the surfaces of a composite substrate such as a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer with a very thin (e.g., monolayer) coating of low stiction material based on chlorosilanes such as diallyldichloromethylsilane, before the fabrication of the MEMS device.
A number of disadvantages are associated with the techniques disclosed in the prior art. In particular, the techniques which add small features to the MEMS device are relatively complex to implement, adding numerous additional steps to the photolithographic processing of the device. This additional processing adds cost to the device.
The approach of adding a monolayer of material to the substrate surface also has disadvantages. In particular, the very thin films are not robust to high temperature processing steps that may be required in the subsequent formation of the MEMS device. At temperatures in excess of, for example, 300 degrees centigrade, the monolayer films may volatilize. Therefore, this technique is not compatible with high temperature fabrication processes and typical wafer bonding processes such as anodic bonding, in which a voltage is applied between the materials at a temperature of between 400 and 600 degrees centigrade. The inability to use wafer bonding may prevent the use of wafer level packaging and force the use of standard more expensive packaging techniques. In addition, the techniques may require very strict levels of cleanliness, as even low levels of contamination may adversely affect the coating uniformity, or may lead to delamination of the coating.
Systems and methods are described for fabrication of antistiction bumps within a composite substrate for forming a MEMS device. The bumps may be placed underneath an overhanging moveable portion of a MEMS device. In contrast to the prior art techniques, the bumps are formed on the substrate surface before fabrication of the moveable device. Therefore, the systems and methods are relatively straightforward to implement in the process flow, and only a single additional photolithographic masking step is required.
The systems and methods may include a composite wafer for fabricating a moveable device, comprising a layer of antistiction material formed over portions of a substrate, a sacrificial layer formed over the portions of the substrate not covered by the antistiction material, and a device layer coupled to the sacrificial layer.
The antistiction bumps are formed by the antistiction material which covers portions of the substrate. Because the antistiction material may not support the growth of an oxide layer, when the oxide layer is grown over the other portions of the substrate, indentations may remain in the oxide layer at the locations of the antistiction bumps. When the oxide layer is subsequently removed to release a moveable device formed in the device layer, the antistiction bumps may remain as prominances between the moveable device and the substrate. The antistiction bumps may reduce the stiction forces at the interface between the moveable device and the substrate, by providing a lower stiction material interface and a reduced area of contact. These antistiction bumps may be formed randomly over the substrate surface, or they may be formed in specific locations to reduce the stiction forces for specific devices.
These and other features and advantages are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description.
Various exemplary details are described with reference to the following figures, wherein:
The systems and methods described herein may be particularly applicable to silicon-on-insulator substrates, which are commonly used to fabricate MEMS devices. As described above, SOI wafers are often used in MEMS processsing, because the oxide layer 20 forms a convenient etch stop for etching the device features in the device layer 30. The movable features in the device layer 30 are then freed from the handle wafer 10 by etching away the oxide middle layer 20 underneath the moveable features.
The antistiction bumps may be fabricated from a layer of low stiction overcoat material patterned on the silicon handle wafer, before the handle wafer is oxidized to form the sacrificial layer of silicon dioxide. Thereafter, the device layer of the SOI substrate is deposited or bonded over the silicon dioxide sacrificial layer. Finally, the MEMS device is formed in the silicon device layer. The MEMS device may be located to be precisely over one or more of the antistiction bumps, or the antistiction bumps may be located randomly over the handle wafer surface.
The growth of the silicon dioxide layer 140 on an overcoated silicon substrate 110 may result in the formation of a “bird's beak” profile well known in the art of semiconductor processing, wherein the oxide 140 grows partially beneath the overcoat layer 120, but not over top of the overcoat layer 120. The bird's beak profile is shown in greater detail in the insert of
Because the sacrificial layer 140 does not grow on top of the overcoat regions 120, the presence of the overcoat regions 120 causes depressions 122 in the sacrificial layer 140. The overcoat regions 120, which are silicon nitride in this embodiment, in the depressions 122 remain bare. The depressions 122 in the sacrificial layer 140 will reduce the stiction forces between the bumps and the subsequently fabricated MEMS device, as will be discussed further below.
It should be understood that if the sacrificial layer is deposited rather than grown, it may later be removed by etching the deposited sacrificial layer 140 from the region of the antistiction bumps or overcoated regions 120. This method may also be effective, although somewhat more complex than using a thermally grown sacrificial layer 140, as described above.
With the addition of the device layer 150, the composite wafer structure may now have the construction of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer 100, well known in the MEMS art, except that the SOI wafer 100 has depressions 122 buried beneath the device layer 150. The SOI wafer 100 may now be patterned to form the MEMS structure. The specific details of the MEMS structure are not necessary to the understanding of the systems and methods described here. The MEMS structure may be, for example, an actuator, motor, switch, gyro or sensor, such as an accelerometer, whose suspended beam responds to the application of an acceleration in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the substrate.
The wet etch solution is designed to also etch the overcoat layer 120 at a low rate. During the oxidation process, sacrificial layer 140 will grow underneath the overcoat layer 120, as shown in the insert of
The sacrificial layer 140 may also be partially removed in other regions, such as regions 124 under the stationary portions 174 of the MEMS device which are not intended to be moveable, because the etch may be isotropic. However, because the regions 124 may be designed to be larger than the regions 122, such that the sacrificial layer 140 is completely removed in regions 122 while at least a portion of the sacrificial layer 140 remains to adhere the stationary portions 174 of the MEMS device to the substrate 110.
The overcoated bumps 120 on the handle wafer 110 may lower the stiction between the handle wafer 110 and the MEMS device 170 because: 1) their surface area of the contact interface is reduced; and 2) the contact interface will be silicon on the overcoat material 120, in this embodiment, silicon nitride, rather than silicon on silicon.
It may be important that the size of the antistiction regions 120 remain relatively small. If the depressed areas 122 become too large, their presence may interfere with the heat conduction capability of the device by reducing the silicon to silicon dioxide interface area
The spacing between the antistiction regions 120 is also important to control, to prevent the moveable features 170 from being pulled down when the sacrificial layer 140 is released. Taking into account the height of the bumps and the stiffness of the moveable features 170 to be released, the bump spacing can be calculated such that the structure in between the bumps is stiff enough to withstand the meniscus forces that occur during the drying process.
As described above with respect to
The antistiction bumps may provide an additional benefit for some device applications. For example, the antistiction bumps can be used to limit the travel of a device structure in the direction toward the substrate 110. The thickness of the antistiction material 120 and the sacrificial layer 140 can be adjusted to control the distance between the device layer 150 and the top of the antistiction bump 120. This control maybe required to prevent damage to fragile devices, limit the motion of the device when subjected to forces or accelerations into the plane of the wafer. It may also be used as a method of defining the distance between the device layer 150 and the substrate 110. This could be beneficial in limiting or controlling interactions between the device layer 150 and the substrate 110. For example, the antistiction bump may hold the moveable features of the device layer 150 at a specified height above the substrate 110 defining the capacitance between the substrate 110 and the device layer 150.
While various details have been described in conjunction with the exemplary implementations outlined above, various alternatives, modifications, variations, improvements, and/or substantial equivalents, whether known or that are or may be presently unforeseen, may become apparent upon reviewing the foregoing disclosure. For example, while the invention has been described with respect to a buried silicon nitride layer, it should be understood that any of a number of alternative antistiction materials may be used for the purpose of providing the antistiction bumps on the substrate. Accordingly, the exemplary implementations set forth above, are intended to be illustrative, not limiting.