MEMS Course of MEMS Innovation FEST 2007

Bridging the gap between design and product through innovation

CHENGKUO LEE 1Dept. of Electrical and Computer Eng., National University of Singapore, Singapore 2 Institute of Microelectronics, A*STAR, Singapore E-mail: elelc@nus.edu.sg
Chengkuo Lee / 2007.12.9 MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee 1

CH7_Thermal / Infrared / Pirani / Flow / Acceleration Sensors

Infrared Radiation Physics Infrared Temperature Sensors - General Physics

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

Optical MEMS Products for Non-Telecom Applications

April 2004

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

Categories of Thermal Sensors

Omega; thermal resolution (<40 mK)

IR Thermal Imager & Temp. Sensor Array Thermal Imaging

Infrared & Thermal Sensors Thermopile

Microbolometer

320x240 pixels, Uncooled FPA for IR Imaging

Security, Fire Fighter, & Automotive

IR Detector Array

Thermometer
Non-contact Temp. Sensing 10x10 ~ 50x50 pixels, IR Small Sensor Array
Security & Human Information
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Radiation Spectrum of Blackbody at Various Temp.

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

Physics of Thermocouple / Thermopile Physics of Infrared Radiation Sensors

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

Typical Thermopile Structure

A thermopile is serially-interconnected array of thermocouples, each of which consists of two dissimilar materials with a large thermoelectric power and opposite polarities. The thermocouples are placed across the hot and cold regions of a structure and the hot junctions are thermally isolated from the cold junctions. The cold junctions are typically placed on the silicon substrate to provide effective heat sink. In the hot regions, there is a black body for absorbing an infrared, which raises the temperature according to the intensity of the incident infrared. These thermopile employ two different thermoelectric materials which are placed on a thin diaphragm having a low thermal conductance and capacitance. Since this creates a large temperature difference between the hot and cold regions, this structure enables improved detector performance. sp; The thermopile has some unique properties which cannot be duplicated by other detectors. It shows an inherently stable response to DC radiation and is not sensitive to ambient temperature variations. It responds to a broad infrared spectrum, does not require a source of bias voltage or current.
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Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

Physics of Thermopiles

*High thermoelectric coefficient *High absorption coefficient *Low thermal conductivity *Low volume resistivity

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

Rv = Vout/Pin =n a-) / (Ks +Kgas +Krad) ( b Vn = (4kTR 1/2 f) NEP = Vn/Rv D* = (Aa 1/2/NEP f)
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Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

Seebeck coefficients in metal and semiconductors. Several Common Configurations of Thermopiles

1987, PM Sarro

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

After S&AA V46-47, 1995, J. Schieferdecker, et al.

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Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

After S&AA V46-47, 1995, J. Schieferdecker, et al.

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Characteristic data of different micromachined thermopiles

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Tympanic Thermometer Spec. of Thermopile for Tympanic Thermometer Active area: 500um 500um Responsivity(Rv): 60 V/W Detectivity(D*): 1 8 cm 10 Hz/W Time constant: 30 ms

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IR Gas Sensor
IR SOURCE window cell pump
IR controller IR filter Amp IR detector cal.

Detective range : 0 ~ 2000 ppm Resolution : 1 ppm

zero gas

CO2 IR Analyzer by ITRI

Gas CO CO2 SO2 NO NO2 CH4 C2H4 C3H8 NH3 wavelength(um) 4.7 2.7, 4.3, 14~ 4.0, 7.4, 8.8~ 5.3 3.4, 6.2, 7.9, 13~ 2.3, 3.3, 7.7 2.3, 3.3, 5.3, 7.0, 10.5 2.3, 3.4, 7.0, 8.6, 9.5 3.0, 6.2, 10.5

Major Absorption Peaks in Solar Spectrum for Gases Solar Spectrum for Gases

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Downsize for Motion Detector by Using MEMS Approach

Miniature detector

Typical Spec. of Thermopile for Motion Detector (Reference)

Monolithic IC sensor Active area: 1mm 0.5mm 2 Responsivity(Rv): 3KV/W Detectivity(D*): 1 7 cm 10 Hz/W Time constant: 30 ms

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CH7_Thermal / Infrared / Pirani / Flow / Acceleration Sensors

Infrared Radiation Physics Infrared Temperature Sensors - General Physics - Development of CMOS Based Thermopiles

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Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

Challenges of making a good thermopile *Low cost *High Performance *CMOS compatible To make it low cost:
1. 2. 3. 4. Cheap process cost / shorter wet etching time Higher yield in dicing WLCSP to replace TO-Can package Faster and reliable testing and calibration method

To become performance leader:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. High and stable Rv and D* regarding to various ambient temp & object temp Large absorb area Tiny packaged size Reliable and sensitive environment temp sensor Vacuum package is desirable

Wafer level packaged thermopile with electrical calibration function !

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Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

Several Configurations of CMOS Based Thermal Sensors

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Infrared Radiation Sensor for Temp. Detection

Purpose: Bridging the gap between design and CMOS micromachining for optimizing thermopiles

Standard CMOS process

Various ICs with predictable characteristics

Microsensor using CMOS compatible process

Microsensors with predictable characteristics

Design thermopile infrared sensor to obtain the desired Rv, D*, R Device parameters: length of thermopile legs, width of polysilicon, number of thermocouple, absorber area

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Proposed Thermopile Structure

CMOS front-end process and post-CMOS surface-bulk micromachining

The thermopile materials used are the n-polysilicon and aluminum, and the process used is CMOS compatible process. After standard CMOS process we use front side Si bulk anisotropic wet etching to release the membrane device structure. TO-5 package with the Si filter

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Thermopile
TO-CAN Package and Sensor Layout

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Cross Section and Parameters

d0=0.35 m d1=0.8 m d2=0.5 m dpsg_sio2=0.5 m dpsg_sin= 0.35 m

dm1=0.12 m dpoly=0.38 m wm1=1.2 m gap1=210 m gap2=3 mm

Sheet resistance of polysilicon: 25ohm/ The Seebeck coefficient is set at 133 V/K calculated from the trend of experimental curve of former studies The heat conductance of aluminum, polysilicon , silicon oxide and silicon nitride are 238, 29, 1.25 and 15 W/K, respectively.

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Micromachined CMOS Thermopiles

Metal2 Absorber

Metal1 Si Nitride polySi

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Micromachined CMOS Thermopiles

Stress Control is Crucial for CMOS Based Sensors

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Methodology for studying the thermal conductivity effect

Measure the Rv by applying a bias to heat the membrane in vacuum

Measure the Rv by applying a bias to heat the membrane in atmosphere

Rv = n a-) / (Ks +Krad) ( b A

Rv = n a-) / ( b A (Ks +Kgas +Krad)

Compare the effect of IR radiation power and applied bias power to find design rules of thermopile
Measure the Rv by radiation from an IR light source

in vacuum

Measure the Rv by radiation from an IR light source in atmosphere

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Optimized CMOS Thermopile Configurations

Rv & D*
20 D*1 18 D*2 D*3 D*4 D*5

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

Width of polysilicon (um)

16 Rv4 14 12 10

Rv1=70 V/W Rv2=60 V/W Rv3=50 V/W Rv4=40 V/W

D*1= 1 108 cm D*2=0.9 108 cm D*3=0.8 108 cm D*4=0.7 108 cm D*5=0.6 108 cm

Hz/W Hz/W Hz/W Hz/W Hz/W

B
8 6 4 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Rv3

Rv2

Rv1 9 10

A: w=12 m, l=100 m, D*= 1.26 108(cm Hz/W), Rv= 49.0(V/W) B: w= 8 m, l=200 m, D*= 0.95 108(cm Hz/W), Rv= 64.0(V/W) C: w= 3 m, l=300 m, D*= 0.55 108(cm Hz/W), Rv= 74.5(V/W)

Length of thermopile ( 100um)

Optimized Thermopile Configurations in terms of width and length of polysilison strips

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CMOS Thermopile with Monolithically Integrated IC

Reference Temperature Thermopile sensor Sensor OP Amp

Thermopile

OP Amp

Reference resister as on-chip temperature sensors

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CH7_Thermal / Infrared / Pirani / Flow / Acceleration Sensors

Infrared Radiation Physics Infrared Temperature Sensors - General Physics - Development of CMOS Based Thermopiles - CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures

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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures Downsize to 1/4 chip area by using 3D structure
Radiation absorber Thermocouple material 1 Radiation absorber Thermocouple material 2 Thermocouple material 1 Thermocouple material 2

Closed membrane structure using back side etching Open membrane structure using front side bulk etching
Radiation absorber Thermocouple material 1

Thermopile leg

Thermocouple material 2

3D structure using sacrificial layer and front side bulk etching

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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures

Theoretical Background Why do we need 3-D Thermoelectric Structures? Pixel Size and number VS Target distance
Required pixel number and max. size vs. object distance

Detection Classific ation Recognition Identification

800 600 400 200 0

T arget

Pixel size (um)

MEMS Innovation FEST 2007_Chengkuo Lee

Probability

Number of resolvable cycles required (lp)

Desired pixel number: fx=dtlp/ht; Focal plane size: 2 focal length tan (FOV/2) Pixel size = Focal plane size / pixel number
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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures Simulation of NETD of 3D thermoelectric structure for low cost security & human information application

Single level System required NETD

2-level structure

S/N=6 MRTD=0.5 C
Target d

curve on figure shows optimized lowest NETD versus target The distance according to the default values of chip size and pixel number From this figure we derived that the 3D structure can be used for longer distance application than traditional 4-bridge structure

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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures

Novel Microfabrication Process

1.
PE oxide deposition and patterning Etching window opening

4.

2.
Absorption layer deposition and patterning Si bulk micromachining

5.

3.
Passivation layer deposition and pad patterning Sacrificial layer etching

6.

Previous Approaches

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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures SEM and OM photos of 3-D thermoelectric structures

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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures

Various Sample Configurations

b Distance between absorber edge and cold junction

lb ls
Sample I Sample II Sample III Sample IV 2 2 180*180 300*300 500*500 2 500*500 2 m m m m 20 30 40 40 50 50 50 30 6 6 10 10 180 200 200 200 200 220 250 250 37.4 28.6 26.7 26.7 138 152 187 187

n b ( m) w ( m) ls ( m) lb ( m) Rv *_Air (V/W) Rv *_Vac (V/W)

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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures

Rv of Traditional 1-L & 3D Structures

Sample III

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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures

Rv & D* of 3D Thermopiles with different absorber size

Sample I Sample II Sample III 2 2 180*180 300*300 500*500 2 m m m Rv_Air (V/W) Rv_Vac (V/W)

37.4 138

28.6 152

26.7 187

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CMOS Based 3-D Thermopile Structures

Results Highlight
1. Downsizing to 1/4 of original size for single detector. 2. 3D Thermoelectric structure is good than conventional design in the case of the same chip size. 3. Sample I shows Rv , D* and NETD of 51V/W, 0.5x10E8 cm Hz/W, and 0.047 in air, in vacuum.

and 190V/W, 2.5x10E8 cm

Hz/W, and 0.013

It is suitable for short range IR recognition purpose (MRTD 0.5 ).

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