Microelectromechanical systems

Introduction
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) (also written as micro-electro-
mechanical, MicroElectroMechanical or microelectronic and
microelectromechanical systems) is the technology of very small mechanical
devices driven by electricity; it merges at the nano-scale into
nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and nanotechnology. MEMS are
also referred to as micromachines (in Japan), or Micro Systems Technology -
MST (in Europe).

MEMS are separate and distinct from the hypothetical vision of molecular
nanotechnology or molecular electronics. MEMS are made up of components
between 1 to 100 micrometres in size (i.e. 0.001 to 0.1 mm) and MEMS
devices generally range in size from 20 micrometres (20 millionths of a metre)
to a millimetre. They usually consist of a central unit that processes data, the
microprocessor and several components that interact with the outside such as
microsensors.[1] At these size scales, the standard constructs of classical
physics are not always useful. Because of the large surface area to volume
ratio of MEMS, surface effects such as electrostatics and wetting dominate
volume effects such as inertia or thermal mass.

The potential of very small machines was appreciated before the technology
existed that could make them—see, for example, Richard Feynman's famous
1959 lecture There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom. MEMS became practical
once they could be fabricated using modified semiconductor device
fabrication technologies, normally used to make electronics. These include
molding and plating, wet etching (KOH, TMAH) and dry etching (RIE and
DRIE), electro discharge machining (EDM), and other technologies capable of
manufacturing small devices. An early example of a MEMS device is the
resonistor – an electromechanical monolithic resonator.

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 History of MEMS Technology

MEMS have developed in the past decades, especially in the last fifteen
years. In the beginning of 1990s, MEMS emerged with the aid of the
development of integrated circuit (IC) fabrication processes, in which sensors,
actuators, and control functions are cofabricated in silicon. Since then,
remarkable research progresses have been achieved in MEMS under the
strong capital promotions from both government and industries. In addition to
the commercialization of some less integrated MEMS devices, such as
microaccelerometers, inkjet printer head, micromirrors for projection, etc., the
concepts and feasibility of more complex MEMS devices have been proposed
and demonstrated for the applications in such varied fields as microfluidics,
aerospace, biomedical, chemical analysis, wireless communications, data
storage, display, optics, etc. Some branches of MEMS, appearing as
microoptoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS), micrototal analysis systems
(µTAS), etc., have attracted a great deal of research interests since their
potential applications’ market. As of the end of 1990s, most of MEMS devices
with various sensing or actuating mechanisms were fabricated using silicon
bulk micromachining, surface micromachining, and lithography,
galvanoforming, moulding (LIGA) processes. Three-dimensional (3D)
microfabrication processes incorporating more materials were presented for
MEMS recently, when some specific application requirements (e.g.,
Biomedical devices) and the microactuators with higher output power were
called for in MEMS. Micromachining has become the fundamental technology
for the fabrication of microelectromechanical devices and, in particular,
miniaturized sensors and actuators. Silicon micromachining is the most
advanced of the micromachining technologies, and it allows for the fabrication
of MEMS that have dimensions in the submillimeter range. It refers to
fashioning microscopic mechanical parts out of silicon substrate or on a
silicon substrate, making the structures three dimensional and bringing new
principles to the designers. Employing materials such as crystalline silicon,
polycrystalline silicon, silicon nitride, etc., a variety of mechanical
microstructures including beams, diaphragms, grooves, orifices, springs,

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gears, suspensions, and a great diversity of other complex mechanical
structures have been conceived. Sometimes many microdevices can also be
fabricated using semiconductor processing technologies or stereolithography
on the polymeric multifunctional structures.

There are some very important events happened in the past half
century:

• In 1750s, First electrostatic motors (Benjamin Franklin, Andrew

Gordon).

• In 1958, Silicon strain gauges commercially available.

• December 26, 1959, At California Institute of Technology, Richard

Feynman gave a remarkably insightful lecture, “There is plenty of room

at the bottom”. He tried to spur innovative miniature fabrication

techniques for micromechannics, but he failed to generate a

fundamentally new fabrication technique.

• In 1967, Invention of surface micromachining (Nathanson, Resonant

Gate Transistor).

• In 1969, Westinghouse creates the “Resonant Gate FET” based on

new microelectronics fabrication techniques.

• In 1970s, Bulk-etched silicon wafers used as pressure sensors.

• In 1970, First silicon accelerometer demonstrated (Kulite) .

• In 1977, First capacitive pressure sensor (Stanford) .

• In 1980, Petersen, K.E., "Silicon Torsional Scanning Mirror", IBM J.

R&D, v24, p631, 1980 .

• In 1982, Kurt Petersen published “silicon as Structural Material”,

reference for material properties and etching data for silicon.

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• In 1984, First polysilicon MEMS device (Howe, Muller ).

• In 1980s, early experiments in surface-micromachined polysilicon, first

electrostatic comb drive actuators—micropositioning disc drive heads.

• In 1989, Lateral comb drive (Tang, Nguyen, Howe).

• In late 1980s, micromachining leverages microelectronics industry,

widespread experimentation and documentation increased public

interest; Early transduction and actuation methods produce simple

actuators; Micromachining methods aimed toward improving sensors,

thermal and electrical isolation between layers with suspended

structures;

• In early 1990s, Government agencies start large MEMS support

programs, AFOSR(Air Force Office of Scientific Research) support

basic research in materials and MEMS research, DARPA creates

MUMPS foundry services with MCNC in 1993, NIST supports

commercial foundries for CMOS and MEMS.

• In our country, “micron/nanometer manufacture technology national

key laboratory” was founded in 1996.

• In 1992, Chris Pister (UCLA) creates first micromachined hinge, it’s

features open possibilities for pseudo-3D structures and assembly

• In 1992 ,MCNC starts the Multi User MEMS Process (MUMPS).

• In 1993, First surface micromachined accelerometer sold (Analog

Devices,ADXL50) .

• In 1994 , Bosch process for Deep Reactive Ion Etching is patented ;.

• In 1995, Bio-MEMS comes of age.

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• In 1998, The premiere of Star Wars shown on TI’s Digital Mirror

Device.

• In later 1990s, actuation and fabrication methods(such as deep

reactive ion etching,laser machining, fluidics, tunneling, deep UV)

produce advanced systems.

• In 2000, MEMS Fiber switches become big business.

• Richard Feynman "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom” Presentation

given December 26,1959 at California Institute of Technology

• Tries to spur innovative miniature fabrication techniques for

micromechanics

• Fails to generate a fundamentally new fabrication technique

Westinghouse creates the "Resonant Gate FET" in 1969

• Mechanical curiosity based on new microelectronics fabrication

• Techniques Bulk-etched silicon wafers used as pressure sensors in

1970’s

• Kurt Petersen published -Silicon as a Structural Material in 1982

• Reference for material properties and etching data for silicon

• Early experiments in surface-micromachined polysilicon in 1980’s

• First electrostatic comb drive actuators- micropositioning disc drive

Heads Micromachining leverages microelectronics industry in late

1980’s

• Widespread experimentation and documentation increases public

interest.

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 Materials for MEMS manufacturing

Silicon
Silicon is the material used to create most integrated circuits used in
consumer electronics in the modern world. The economies of scale, ready
availability of cheap high-quality materials and ability to incorporate electronic
functionality make silicon attractive for a wide variety of MEMS applications.
Silicon also has significant advantages engendered through its material
properties. In single crystal form, silicon is an almost perfect Hookean
material, meaning that when it is flexed there is virtually no hysteresis and
hence almost no energy dissipation. As well as making for highly repeatable
motion, this also makes silicon very reliable as it suffers very little fatigue and
can have service lifetimes in the range of billions to trillions of cycles without
breaking.

Polymers
Even though the electronics industry provides an economy of scale for the
silicon industry, crystalline silicon is still a complex and relatively expensive
material to produce. Polymers on the other hand can be produced in huge
volumes, with a great variety of material characteristics. MEMS devices can
be made from polymers by processes such as injection molding, embossing
or stereolithography and are especially well suited to microfluidic applications
such as disposable blood testing cartridges.

Metals
Metals can also be used to create MEMS elements. While metals do not have
some of the advantages displayed by silicon in terms of mechanical
properties, when used within their limitations, metals can exhibit very high
degrees of reliability.
Metals can be deposited by electroplating, evaporation, and sputtering
processes.
Commonly used metals include gold, nickel, aluminium, copper, chromium,
titanium, tungsten, platinum, and silver.

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 MEMS basic processes

Deposition processes
One of the basic building blocks in MEMS processing is the ability to deposit
thin films of material with a thickness anywhere between a few nanometres to
about 100 micrometres.

Physical deposition
There are two types of physical deposition processes.

Physical vapor deposition (PVD)

Sputtering

Evaporation

Chemical deposition
There are 2 types of chemical deposition.

Chemical vapor deposition

LPCVD : Low Pressure CVD PECVD : Plasma Enhanced CVD

Thermal oxidation

Patterning
Patterning in MEMS is the transfer of a pattern into a material.

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Lithography
Lithography in MEMS context is typically the transfer of a pattern into a
photosensitive material by selective exposure to a radiation source such as
light. A photosensitive material is a material that experiences a change in its
physical properties when exposed to a radiation source. If a photosensitive
material is selectively exposed to radiation (e.g. by masking some of the
radiation) the pattern of the radiation on the material is transferred to the
material exposed, as the properties of the exposed and unexposed regions
differs. This exposed region can then be removed or treated providing a mask
for the underlying substrate. Photolithography is typically used with metal or
other thin film deposition, wet and dry etching.

Photolithography
KrF ArF Immersion EUV

Electron beam lithography

Main article: Electron beam lithography
Electron beam lithography (often abbreviated as e-beam lithography) is the
practice of scanning a beam of electrons in a patterned fashion across a
surface covered with a film (called the resist), ("exposing" the resist) and of
selectively removing either exposed or non-exposed regions of the resist
("developing"). The purpose, as with photolithography, is to create very small
structures in the resist that can subsequently be transferred to the substrate
material, often by etching. It was developed for manufacturing integrated
circuits, and is also used for creating nanotechnology architectures.
The primary advantage of electron beam lithography is that it is one of the
ways to beat the diffraction limit of light and make features in the nanometer
regime. This form of maskless lithography has found wide usage in
photomask-making used in photolithography, low-volume production of
semiconductor components, and research & development.
The key limitation of electron beam lithography is throughput, i.e., the very
long time it takes to expose an entire silicon wafer or glass substrate. A long
exposure time leaves the user vulnerable to beam drift or instability which
may occur during the exposure. Also, the turn-around time for reworking or re-

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design is lengthened unnecessarily if the pattern is not being changed the
second time.

Ion beam lithography

It is known that focused-ion-beam lithography has the capability of writing
extremely fine lines (less than 50 nm line and space has been achieved)
without proximity effect. However, because the writing field in ion-beam
lithography is quite small, largearea patterns must be created by stitching
together the small fields.

X-ray lithography
X-ray lithography, is a process used in electronic industry to selectively
remove parts of a thin film. It uses X-rays to transfer a geometric pattern from
a mask to a light-sensitive chemical photo resist, or simply "resist," on the
substrate. A series of chemical treatments then engraves the produced
pattern into the material underneath the photo resist.

Etching processes
There are two basic categories of etching processes: wet etching and dry
etching. In the former, the material is dissolved when immersed in a chemical
solution. In the latter, the material is sputtered or dissolved using reactive ions
or a vapor phase etchant for a somewhat dated overview of MEMS etching
technologies.

Wet etching
Wet chemical etching consists in selective removal of material by dipping a
substrate into a solution that dissolves it. The chemical nature of this etching
process provides a good selectivity, which means the etching rate of the
target material is considerably higher than the mask material if selected
carefully.

Isotropic etching
Etching progresses at the same speed in all directions. Long and narrow
holes in a mask will produce v-shaped grooves in the silicon. The surface of

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these grooves can be atomically smooth if the etch is carried out correctly,
with dimensions and angles being extremely accurate.

Anisotropic etching
Some single crystal materials, such as silicon, will have different etching rates
depending on the crystallographic orientation of the substrate. This is known
as anisotropic etching and one of the most common examples is the etching
of silicon in KOH (potassium hydroxide), where Si <111> planes etch
approximately 100 times slower than other planes (crystallographic
orientations). Therefore, etching a rectangular hole in a (100)-Si wafer results
in a pyramid shaped etch pit with 54.7° walls, instead of a hole with curved
sidewalls as with isotropic etching.

HF etching
Hydrofluoric acid is commonly used as an aqueous etchant for silicon dioxide
(SiO2, also known as BOX for SOI), usually in 49% concentrated form, 5:1,
10:1 or 20:1 BOE (buffered oxide etchant) or BHF (Buffered HF). They were
first used in medieval times for glass etching. It was used in IC fabrication for
patterning the gate oxide until the process step was replaced by RIE.
Hydrofluoric acid is considered one of the more dangerous acids in the
cleanroom. It penetrates the skin upon contact and it diffuses straight to the
bone. Therefore the damage is not felt until it is too late.

Electrochemical etching
Electrochemical etching (ECE) for dopant-selective removal of silicon is a
common method to automate and to selectively control etching. An active p-n
diode junction is required, and either type of dopant can be the etch-resistant
("etch-stop") material. Boron is the most common etch-stop dopant. In
combination with wet anisotropic etching as described above, ECE has been
used successfully for controlling silicon diaphragm thickness in commercial
piezoresistive silicon pressure sensors. Selectively doped regions can be
created either by implantation, diffusion, or epitaxial deposition of silicon.

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Dry etching

Vapor etching

Xenon difluoride etching

Xenon difluoride (XeF2) is a dry vapor phase isotropic etch for silicon originally
applied for MEMS in 1995 at University of California, Los Angeles.[7][8]
Primarily used for releasing metal and dielectric structures by undercutting
silicon, XeF2 has the advantage of a stiction-free release unlike wet etchants.
Its etch selectivity to silicon is very high, allowing it to work with photoresist,
SiO2, silicon nitride, and various metals for masking. Its reaction to silicon is
"plasmaless", is purely chemical and spontaneous and is often operated in
pulsed mode. Models of the etching action are available,[9] and university
laboratories and various commercial tools offer solutions using this approach.

Reactive ion etching (RIE)

Reactive ion etching In reactive ion etching (RIE), the substrate is placed
inside a reactor, and several gases are introduced. A plasma is struck in the
gas mixture using an RF power source, which breaks the gas molecules into
ions. The ions accelerate towards, and react with, the surface of the material
being etched, forming another gaseous material. This is known as the
chemical part of reactive ion etching. There is also a physical part, which is
similar to the sputtering deposition process. If the ions have high enough
energy, they can knock atoms out of the material to be etched without a
chemical reaction. It is a very complex task to develop dry etch processes that
balance chemical and physical etching, since there are many parameters to
adjust. By changing the balance it is possible to influence the anisotropy of
the etching, since the chemical part is isotropic and the physical part highly
anisotropic the combination can form sidewalls that have shapes from
rounded to vertical. RIE can be deep (Deep RIE or deep reactive ion etching
(DRIE).

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Deep RIE
(DRIE) is a special subclass of RIE that is growing in popularity. In this
process, etch depths of hundreds of micrometres are achieved with almost
vertical sidewalls. The primary technology is based on the so-called "Bosch
process",[10] named after the German company Robert Bosch, which filed the
original patent, where two different gas compositions alternate in the reactor.
Currently there are two variations of the DRIE. The first variation consists of
three distinct steps (the Bosch Process as used in the Plasma-Therm tool)
while the second variation only consists of two steps (ASE used in the STS
tool). In the 1st Variation, the etch cycle is as follows: (i) SF6 isotropic etch; (ii)
C4F8 passivation; (iii) SF6 anisoptropic etch for floor cleaning. In the 2nd
variation, steps (i) and (iii) are combined. Both variations operate similarly.
The C4F8 creates a polymer on the surface of the substrate, and the second
gas composition (SF6 and O2) etches the substrate. The polymer is
immediately sputtered away by the physical part of the etching, but only on
the horizontal surfaces and not the sidewalls. Since the polymer only
dissolves very slowly in the chemical part of the etching, it builds up on the
sidewalls and protects them from etching. As a result, etching aspect ratios of
50 to 1 can be achieved. The process can easily be used to etch completely
through a silicon substrate, and etch rates are 3–6 times higher than wet
etching

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 Fabrication Techniques
Microfabrication processes capable of creating threedimensional structures in
silicon were the driving force for the emergence of early MEMS devices. The
evolution of these microfabrication processes has led to the classification of
major micromachining techniques namely, bulk micromachining, surface
micromachining, dissolved wafer process, LIGA, and electrodischarge
machining. A typical MEMS device can be realized by using any of these
processes in their most prevalent form or several variants of these processes
can be used. The choice of the fabrication process is very important in
that it defines the overall performance and cost of the micromachinedm part.

1 Bulk Micromachining.
Bulk micromachining is based on a combination of isotropic and anisotropic
etchings of singlecrystalline silicon to form micro mechanical structures from
the bulk of the silicon wafer @20#. Strongly alkaline liquids such as potassium
hydroxide ~KOH!, tetra-methyl-ammonium-hydroxide ~TMAH!, ethylene-
diamine-pyrocatechol EDP! etc. preferentially etch the 100 planes of single
crystal silicon in comparison to the 111 planes. The difference in these etch
rates can be used to create large three-dimensional structures in silicon
substrates using standard photolithography techniques in conjunction with
good masking layers such as silicon dioxide and silicon nitride layers.
However, the etch rate of silicon in these chemicals is of the order of 1
mm/min and therefore takes in excess of 8 hours to etch through a 550 mm
thick wafer. Wet etching can be used either from the front side of the wafer,
backside of the wafer or from both sides to realize an array of
micromechanical structures. In addition, these chemicals are not compatible
with CMOS fabrication processes due to the presence of heavy metal and
alkali ions. Thus any device process has to be carefully designed to prevent
the possibility of contamination. For example, wet anisotropic Si etching can
be used after completing CMOS processing for releasing the micromechanical
structures so that contamination issues can be avoided. Bulk micromachining
based on wet anisotropic etching also prevents efficient use of the silicon real
estate since large etch-windows need to be defined on one surface of the

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silicon wafer to realize relatively small micromechanical structure on the other
surface of the silicon wafer. This leads to low device densities and high device
cost. The main attraction of anisotropic wet etching arises from the
inexpensive capital investment in realizingthis process step. For example,
KOH etch module including precision temperature control, in-situ filtering and
stirring etc. costs under $25,000. In contrast high-aspect ratio, anisotropic
etching of silicon using deep reactive ion etchers is not crystal orientation
dependent and is capable of etching rates as high as 6 mm/min with load
locked cassette to cassette wafer-handling systems. However, such systems
cost in excess of a million dollars.

2 Surface Micromachining.
Surface micromachining, on the other hand, is based on sequential deposition
and etching of thin films on the surface of a carrier substrate. One of the big
advantages of surface micromachining is that a very slightly modified CMOS
process can be used for the realization of the MEMS device. Typical structural
materials are chosen from CMOS materials such as polysilicon and silicon
nitride while the sacrificial layer is silicon dioxide. The micromechanical
structure is released from the substrate by etching away the sacrificial oxide in
HF. Initial efforts in surface micromachining were largely affected by the
stresses in the structural layers and the release processes. Micromechanical
structures upon release in the wet etchant suffered from stiction problems.
These problems have been largely solved and complex CMOS based
micromachining processes using up to 3-layers of polysilicon have been used
to fabricate very complex micromechanical structures such as microgears,
micromotors, micromirrors . Due to the thickness of the structural layer being
limited to a few microns, the one disadvantage of surface micromachining is
that micromechanical structures with large mass or dimensions are difficult to
fabricate. Such structures are required for the proof mass of accelerometers
or in nozzles for inkjet printer heads etc.

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3 Dissolved Wafer Process.
An innovative process that combines the advantages of both surface and
bulk micromachining techniques was developed at the University of Michigan
and is called dissolved wafer process. In this process the micromechanica.
Structure is defined in a silicon wafer by boron doping

The areas, which will constitute the mechanical structure. In order to create
topographical features the silicon is first anisotropically etched and then
followed by the doping step. Once the silicon process is complete, the wafer is
bonded onto a borosilicate glass e.g. PYREX™ 7740! wafer. Thereafter, the
silicon wafer is dissolved away in EDP etchant leaving behind the boron-
doped micromechanical structures on the glass substrate. Boron-doped
micromechanical structures fabricated using this technique can range from 2–
15 mm in thickness. The main advantage of this process is that the
micromechanical structures can be fabricated at high densities and can have
higher aspect ratios as compared to surface micromachined parts. In some
applications the high dielectric constant of the glass substrate offers additional
advantages. Figure

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4 shows the schematic diagram of dissolved wafer process.

4 LIGA Process.
LIGA process has relied upon the use of x-ray lithography to define high
aspect ratio structures in photoresist, which are then used as templates for
plating and molding processes. Electroplated nickel is typically used for
creating molds from the high-aspect ratio photoresist patterns on the silicon
wafer and subsequently used to fabricate precision parts. Current
developments in LIGA process are geared towards making it more
manufactureable and to enable precision microstructures as thick as several
mm. More recently thick optical negative photoresists such as SU-8 have
become available which can also be used for realizing high-aspect ratio
structures. Current developments in the fabrication techniques based upon
plating and molding techniques include wet developing process, thermal
stress control, materials issues, plating high-strength alloys, etc. The potential
benefit is the low-cost manufacturing of icrostructures with virtually unlimited
choices of structural materials, excellent heat transfer characteristics in the
final devices, molds for polymer medical devices, etc.

CAD for MEMS

The early success stories of MEMS products such as pressure sensors,
accelerometers, micromirror displays etc. required development efforts of
several engineers and scientists working over a period of at least 10 years
after the demonstration of the R&D prototypes in Universities and Research
Laboratories. During this mostly development phase, efforts were typically
directed towards producing a reliable, reproducible and high-yield
microelectromechanical chip. This period also saw some of the pioneering
developments in MEMS related fabrication processes, materials development
and characterization for mechanical properties, and foundries that could
handle MEMS oriented processes. However, the biggest constraint for rapid
prototyping has been the lack of a unified simulation platform, which is
capable of accurately predicting the performance of the final device including
packaging effects. The lack of such simulation software has led to tedious

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 Applications
Accelerometers are being incorporated into more and more personal
electronic devices such as media players and gaming devices. In particular,
more and more smartphones (such as Apple’siPhone and the Nokia N95) are
incorporating accelerometers for step counters, user interface control, and
switching between portrait and landscape modes. They use accelerometers
as a tilt sensor for tagging the orientation to photos taken with the built-in
camera. The Nokia 5500
sport features a 3D accelerometer that can be used for tap gestures, for
example to change to next song by tapping through clothing when the device
is in a pocket. Camcorders use accelerometers for image stabilization. Still
cameras use accelerometers for anti-blur capturing. Some digital cameras,
such as Canon’s PowerShot and Ixus range contain accelerometers to
determine the orientation of the photo being taken and also for rotating the
current picture when
viewing.
Accelerometers are also being used in new contactless game controller or
mouse. IBM and Apple have recently started using accelerometers in their
laptops to protect hard drives from damage. If you accidentally drop the
laptop, the accelerometer detects the sudden freefall, and 8 switches the hard
drive off so the heads don’t crash on the platters. In a similar fashion, high g
accelerometers are the industry standard way of detecting car crashes and
deploying airbags at just the right time. They are used to detect the rapid
negative acceleration of the vehicle to determine when a collision has
occurred. They also have a built-in self-test feature, where a micro-actuator
will simulate the effect of deceleration and allow checking the integrity of the
system every time you start up the engine. Recently the gyroscopes (they rely
on a mechanical structure that is driven into resonance and excites a
secondary oscillation in either the same structure or in a second one, due to
the Coriolis force) made their apparition for anti-skidding system and also for
navigation unit. The widespread use of accelerometers in the automotive
industry has pushed their cost down dramatically. Accelerometers have also

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found real-time applications in controlling and monitoring military and
aerospace systems. Smart weapon systems (direct and indirect fire; aviation-
launched and ship-launched missiles, rockets, projectiles and sub munitions)
are among these applications. Some MEMS sensors have already been used
in satellite. The development of micro
(less than 100kg) and nano (about 10kg) satellites is bringing the mass and
volume advantage of MEMS to good use .

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 MEMS ACCELEROMETERS

Introduction
An accelerometer is an electromechanical device that measures acceleration
forces. These forces may be static, like the constant force of gravity pulling at
our feet, or they could be dynamic-caused by moving or vibrating the
accelerometer. There are many types of accelerometers developed and
reported in the literature. The vast majority is based on piezoelectric crystals,
but they are too big and to clumsy. People tried to develop something smaller,
that could increase applicability and started searching in the field of
microelectronics. They developed MEMS (micro electromechanical systems)
accelerometers. The first micro machined accelerometer was designed in
1979 at Stanford University, but it took over 15 years before such devices
became accepted mainstream products for large volume applications. In the
1990s MEMS accelerometers revolutionised the automotive-airbagsystem
industry. Since then they have enabled unique features and applications
ranging from hard-disk protection on laptops to game controllers. More
recently, the same sensor-core technology has become available in fully
integrated, full-featured devices suitable for industrial applications. Micro
machined accelerometers are a highly enabling technology with a huge
commercial potential. They provide lower power, compact and robust sensing.
Multiple sensors are often combined to provide multi-axis sensing and more
accurate data.

MEMS technology
What could link an inkjet printer head, a video projector DLP system, a
disposable bio-analysis chip and an airbag crash sensor - yes, they are all
MEMS, but what is MEMS? Micro Electro Mechanical Systems or MEMS is a
term coined around 1989 by Prof. R. Howand others to describe an emerging
research field, where mechanical elements, like cantilevers or membranes,
had been manufactured at a scale more akin to microelectronics circuit than
to lathe machining. It appears that these devices share the presence of
features below 100_m that are not machined using standard machining but
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using other techniques globally called micro-fabrication technology. Of course,
this simple definition would also include microelectronics, but there is a
characteristic that electronic circuits do not share with MEMS. While electronic
circuits are inherently solid and compact structures, MEMS have holes, cavity,
channels, antilevers, membranes, etc, and, in some way, imitate ‘mechanical’
parts. The emphasis on MEMS based on silicon is clearly a result of the vast
knowledge on silicon material and on silicon based microfabrication gained by
decades of research in microelectronics. And again, even when MEMS are
based on silicon, microelectronics process needs to be adapted to cater for
thicker layer deposition, deeper etching and to introduce special steps to free
the mechanical structures. MEMS needs a completely different set of mind,
where next to electronics, mechanical and material knowledge plays a
fundamental role. Then, many more MEMS are not based on silicon and can
be manufactured in polymer, in glass, in quartz or even in metals.
The development of a MEMS component has a cost that should not be
misevaluated and the technology has the possibility to bring unique benefits.
The reasons that prompt the use of MEMS technology are for example
miniaturization of existing devices, development of new devices based on
principles that do not work at larger scale, development of new tools to
interact with the micro-world. Miniaturization reduces cost by decreasing
material consumption. It also increases applicability by reducing mass and
size allowing to place the MEMS in places where a traditional system doesn’t
fit. A typical example is brought by the accelerometer developed as a
replacement for traditional airbag triggering sensor also used in digital
cameras to help stabilize the image or even in the contact-less game
controller integrated in the latest handphones. Another advantage that MEMS
can bring relates with the system integration. Instead of having a series of
external components (sensor, inductor...) connected by wire or soldered to a
printed circuit board, the MEMS on silicon can be integrated directly with the
electronics. These so called smart integrated MEMS already include data
acquisition, filtering, data storage, communication, interfacing and networking.
As we see, MEMS technology not only makes the things smaller but often
makes them better.

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The MEMS component currently on the market can be broadly divided in six
categories, where next to the well-known pressure and inertia sensors
produced by different manufacturer like Motorola, Analog Devices, Sensonor
or Delphi we have many other products. The micro-fluidic application are best
known for the inkjet printer head popularized by Hewlett Product category
Examples Pressure sensor Manifold pressure (MAP), tire pressure, blood
pressure..Inertia sensor Accelerometer, gyroscope, crash
sensor..Microfluidics bioMEMS Inkjet printer nozzle, micro-bio-analysis
systems,DNA chips.. Optical MEMS MOEMS
Micro-mirror array for projection (DLP), micro-grating array for projection
(GLV),
optical fiber switch, adaptive optics. RF MEMS High Q-inductor, switches,
antenna, filter. Others Relays, microphone, data storage, toys. MEMS
products examples. The MEMS component currently on the market can be
broadly divided in six categories. Packard, but they also include the growing
bioMEMS market with micro analysis system liken the capillary
electrophoresis system from Agilent or the DNA chips. Optical MEMS
(MOEMS) includes the component for the fibre optic telecommunication like
the switch based on a moving mirror produced by Sercalo. Moreover MOEMS
deals with the now rather successful optical
projection system that is competing with the LCD (liquid crystal display)
projector. RF (radio frequency) MEMS is also emerging as viable MEMS
market. Next to passive components like high-Q inductors produced on the IC
surface to replace the hybridized component as proposed by company
MEMSCAP we find RF switches and soon micromechanical filters. But the
listdoes not end here and we can find micromachined relays (MMR) produced
for example by Omron, HDD (hard disk drive) read/write head and actuator or
even toys, like the autonomous
micro-robot EMRoS produced by EPSON.

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 MEMS' World

This page introduces examples of commercial MEMS applications (and how

many are application fields) that have reached the market and are really
available at this time, meaning that are used in real life! For example, MEMS
actuators featuring electrostatic actuation that are used all around the world
will be introduced here! This page shows that MEMS don't exist only in
laboratory but everywhere around you!
MEMS devices have started when microelectronics people realize that
polysilicon, one of the most used material at the beginning of icroelectronics,
has very good mechanical properties. Since then, these properties have been
largely used and now MEMS use a lot of different materials to achieve an
increasing number of applications

Commercial MEMS Applications

You probably ignore it, but there are already MEMS around you. In your car,
maybe in your television, and in your mobile phone! I can't reference here all
of the currently available applications, but I will talk about the most common
and the most spectacular ones.

Summary
• Inertial sensors
• RF switches
• Optical switches
• Digital Mirror

Inertial sensors
Inertial sensors are mechanics sensors aiming at measuring accelerations, in
the mechanics science definition. An acceleration is a changing in the speed,
could it be translational and/or rotational.

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There are two categories of inertial sensors: accelerometers, and gyroscopes.
The first ones measure varation of translational speed, and the last ones
measure variation of rotational speed.
Microaccelerometers were the first MEMS device to flood the market.
The microaccelerometers are already used in daily life! They are parts of the
tiny systems that try to take care of us while we ignore them. To realize it, you
should remember microaccelerometers measure variation of translational
speed. So acceleration, deceleration, even very high deceleration, like..
shock! The sensor that detects a shock and launch the airbag is a
microaccelerometer combined with a electronic circuit able to decide wether
or not the shock was an accident or just your car passing a pothole

Photos of a microaccelerometer, ADXL series, produced by Analog Device.

Copyright Analog Devices, Inc. All rights reserved

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On these photos, you can see a microaccelerometer device and the chip
including associated electronics, made by Analog Device. This is a two axis
microaccelerometer: this means it is able to measure accelerations in two
directions at a time (in the directions of the plane).
There are a lot of other applications, like navigation, microaccelerometers can
help in increasing precision, because GPS does hardly better than several
meters, integrating accelerations and direction changing can help in
calculating a position. In industrial device monitoring, an accelerometer can
detect any changing in the vibration emitted by the device and preempts a
breakdown.
There are more and more to say about microaccelerometers, they are still the
spearhead of MEMS industry.
Microgyroscopes are newer in the market compared to microaccelerometers.
Some devices have appeared on the market for navigation applications. The
key point in these devices is sensitivity, and it has been the subject of
research and development for several years before devices become
interesting for real-life applications.

RF switches
RF switches have been under development for many years, but the
commercial applications just begin to appear. The reason is the difficulty to
combine high efficiency, reproducibility and reliability.
RF switches will be prefered to full-electronic switches on applications where
security, integration capabilities, power consumption and other parameters
are critical

Schematics of a R.F. electromechanical microswitch in action

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Optical multiplexers
Texas Instruments's DMD
Micromirrors have also been studied for a long time before a device become
commercially available. Texas Instruments has developped a micromirrors'
matrix for video display: the Digital Micromirror Device. It is now the base of
high quality video projector, and you can find televisions carrying the DLP
letters, meaning they embed Texas Instrument's DMD technology

Photos of Texas Instrument's DMD

Copyright Texas Instruments, Inc. All right reserved

DLP, standing for Digital Light Processor, is made of a large matrix of

micromirrors (DMD), each mirror corresponding to a pixel. These mirrors can
change their orientation angle thanks to an electrostatic actuation. So, if you
send incident light on the matrix, the mirrors reflect a quantity of light to the
screen depending on their orientation, so orientation angle controls the
luminance for each pixel.

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 Schematics of a projection system with a single DMD chip
Copyright Texas Instrument, Inc. All right reserved

There are several kind of systems using DLP devices. Some of them use 3
DMD, one for each color. One of them uses a single DMD device, with a color
filter system. Since micromirror actuation is very fast compared to the
persistence of light on the screen, it is possible during an image cycle to
switch between each of the filters so that the mirrors send successively a
dose of each color for the same pixel without possibility for human eyes to see
the sequence.
The advantages of DLP based system compared to existing ones, like
plasma, LCD, or electronic beams are high resolution, and the best power
ratio between light source and displayed light. Microtechnology also allows a
very high productivity, reducing the cost of the devices as the market's
demand grows.
Micromirrors devices have just reached the consumer market, and they are a
promising technology that should eventually find a place in most of the display
devices, like mobile phone screens, etc

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1. World’s Smallest Car

2. Automotive Airbag Accelerometer

Ford Microelectronics ISAAC two-chip automotive airbag accelerometer

• Sensor chip is on the right

• Signal processing and control IC is on the left
• The accelerometer structure is a bulk micromachined suspended
silicon mass over a fixed metal electrode that provides a capacitive
output as a function of acceleration
• The sensor is created by anodically bonding a micromachined silicon
wafer to a glass wafer and etching away the bulk of the silicon, leaving
only the suspended silicon mass.

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3. Vibrating Wheel Gyro

• A wheel is driven to vibrate about its axis of symmetry

• Rotation about either in-plane axis resultsin the wheel’s tilting
• Tilting of the wheel can be detected with capacitive electrodes under
the wheel

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4. Pill Camer

Distal esophagus with edema and erythema.

Geographic ulceration suggestive of Barret's
Esophagus.

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 Conclusion

Although some products like pressure sensors have been produced for 30
years, MEMS industry in many aspects is still a young industry. MEMS will
undoubtedly invade more and more consumer products. Size of MEMS is
getting smaller, frequency response and sense range are getting wider.
MEMS are more and more reliable and their sensitivity better every day.
Prices of MEMS accelerometers and other MEMS devices aren’t excessive,
but they still have
to drop a lot if we want to expand massive consumption. Standardization of
production, testing and packaging MEMS would certainly do a big part at it.
The relatively long and expensive development cycle for a MEMS component
is a hurdle that needs to be lowered and also less expensive micro-fabrication
method than photolithography has to be pursued.
We can be sure that the future for MEMS is bright. At least because, as R.
Feynman stated boldly in his famous 1959 talk, which inspired some of the
MEMS pioneers, because, indeed, "There’s plenty of room at the bottom!".

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 References

[1] I. Lee, G. H. Yoon, J. Park, S. Seok, K. Chun, K. Lee, Development and

analysis of the vertical capacitive accelerometer, Sensors and Actuators A
119 (2005) 8-18
[2] F. Chollet, H. Liu, A (not so) short introduction to MEMS
(http://memscyclopedia.org/introMEMS.html (18.2.2008))
[3] S. Beeby, G. Ensell, M. Kraft, N.White, MEMS mechanical sensors (Artech
house inc USA, 2004)
[4] S. E. Lyshevski, Mems and Nems: systems, devices and structures (CRC
Press LLC, USA, 2002)
[5]http://www.analog.com/UploadedFiles/Obsolete_Data_Sheets/66309706A
DXL05.pdf (10.3.2008)
[6] B. E. Boser, “Electronics for micromachined inertial sensors,” in
Transducers Dig. of Tech.Papers, pp. 1169-1172, June 1997.
[7] http://www.analog.com/en/prod/0„764_800_ADXL202%2C00.html
(10.3.2008)
[8]http://www.analog.com/en/content/0,2886,764%255F800%255F122115%2
55F0,00.html (14.2.2008)
[9] C. T. Leondes, Mems/Nems Handbook techniques and applications,
Volume 4: Sensors and actuators (Springer, USA, 2006)
[10]http://rfdesign.com/military_defense_electronics/news/accelerometer_prov
es_accurate_0509/ (14.2.2008)
[11] F. Mohn-Yasin, C. E. Korman, D. J. Nagel, Measurement of noise
characteristics of MEMSaccelerometers Solid-State Electronics 47 (2003)
357-360
[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerometer (14.2.2008)
[13] S. Beeby, G. Ensell, M. Kraft, N.White, MEMS mechanical sensors
(Artech house inc USA, 2004)
[14] http://www.sensorsmag.com/articles/0399/0399_44/main.shtml
(14.2.2008)

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