MEMS: Learning the lessons from the

fabless chip industry

As product developers look to MEMS devices to enable significant new features, the technology
and business of MEMS is following paths already familiar to the semiconductor industry. Tony
McKie reports.
MEMS devices such as motion detectors, miniature silicon microphones and wafer-level
actuators are increasingly found in consumer products, as designers seek to create new and
differentiating features and miniaturise products without trading performance. And as product
designers delight their customers with new features only possible with the use of
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology - such as high-end photographic
performance from a camera-phone handset - end-users' expectations will continue to increase.
As demand for MEMS-dependent functionality grows, despite the effects of the current
financial crisis, the MEMS industry must innovate new functions, improve processes, and
establish a lower cost base for MEMS production.
Advances in production processes for MEMS devices hold the keys to meeting these goals.
The processes used for etching, for example, have a major influence on the design techniques
that can be applied, the materials that can be used, and the size of the features that can be
created. Aspects such as wafer-to-wafer repeatability and the total cycle time per wafer are
also dependent on the type of etch process used.
Etching is the process of releasing the micro-mechanical structure from the sacrificial
material on which it is formed. The structure may be the cantilever beam of an accelerometer
or gyroscope, or the silicon membrane of a MEMS microphone. Established etching
processes are based on wet chemistry, such as liquid hydrofluoric acid (HF). Although the HF
acid is effective in removing the sacrificial material, the behaviour of the liquid tends to
restrict the shapes and dimensions of features that can be achieved. In the production of a
MEMS silicon microphone, for example, the removal of sacrificial material from beneath the
membrane - which is necessary to enable the membrane to vibrate - requires apertures to be
created in the membrane itself to allow the HF acid into contact with the sacrificial material.
From the point of view of microphone performance, the aperture size should be as small as
possible. However, a certain minimum size is required to permit adequate flow of HF acid.
There are also limitations on the types of materials that can be used. Since liquid HF attacks
silicon dioxide, it is not compatible with MEMS structures that use oxide as a mechanical
material. HF acid is also incompatible with metals. Hence liquid HF places major restrictions
on MEMS technology going forward.
To overcome such restrictions, and to achieve greater repeatability, reliability and selectivity
in single-wafer or batch processing, next-generation etch processes exploiting Sacrificial
Vapour Release (SVR) permit the use of a broader variety of structural materials, including
metals, are being adopted. SVR chemistries such as vapour-phase hydrofluoric (vHF) for
oxide-release etch, or Xenon difluoride (XeF2) for silicon-release processing, will allow new
types of MEMS devices to emerge. Vapour-release processes also provide greater freedom
for designers to optimise structures and materials to achieve the desired device properties
within the smallest possible dimensions.
The introduction of the RF-MEMS variable capacitor, which is produced using SVR with
XeF2 chemistry to etch sacrificial silicon without attacking the device's aluminium support
layer, highlights the extra freedoms now available to device designers. As processes evolve in
this way, MEMS production will become compatible with CMOS processes and CMOS fabs,
leading exciting future generations of components combining MEMS and CMOS elements
within the same package. Processes compatible with metals are necessary to achieve this
class of device, not least to enable attachment of the MEMS device using aluminium bond
pads. With investment in suitable MEMS processes, it is technically achievable to converge
MEMS and CMOS fabrication on a single line.
History shows an earlier migration from relatively imprecise and restrictive wet chemical
processing to vapour-phase processing. As the semiconductor industry progressed towards
sub-micron and subsequently smaller design rules, these successive node shifts forced the
pace of advances in wafer-level processes, including vapour etching. With process
improvements such as these, the semiconductor industry has been able to pursue Moore's
Law, to deliver more highly integrated, better performing devices; improvements in process
capability, leading to more good components per wafer, have also contributed to significant
savings in the cost of each unit produced. The MEMS industry can expect to achieve a
similar 'coming of age' as it transitions to future generations of manufacturing processes.
Another significant trend set by the semiconductor industry, which has led to tremendous
advances in device performance, functionality and cost-down, has been the emergence of the
fabless chip company. By focusing on developing device IP, and purchasing foundry
services, this model has successfully reduced start-up costs for design-led chip companies.
Who knows how many devices currently on the market may never have come to fruition if
their creators had also had to find the necessary investment to build a manufacturing line to
deliver their bright ideas to market?
The MEMS sector is now displaying a similar trend. Around 30 per cent of the companies
memsstar is currently working with are fabless IP developers. Non-captive MEMS foundry
capacity is also increasing; semiconductor foundries can convert existing CMOS lines for
MEMS production relatively easily, and new service providers are also entering the
marketplace. As has been seen in the semiconductor industry, this should increase the pace of
MEMS IP development, and should also lead to rapid increases in process capabilities and
yield. The time to market for new MEMS device designs should also become shorter, as
foundries seek to standardise MEMS fabrication processes to deliver faster turnaround and
lower costs for customers.
The MEMS industry can benefit from experiences acquired in the semiconductor sector.
Much existing knowledge surrounding vapour processing is directly applicable, and will
serve to accelerate manufacturing improvements. Also, the fabless model has been adopted
more quickly. This will help to increase the pace of device development as well as process
improvement, driving MEMS-enabled features into diverse types of consumer, commercial,
industrial, medical, scientific and automotive products.
Tony McKie is with Point 35 Microstructures in Livingston, UK. www.pt35.com.
Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor
chips while outsourcing the fabrication or "fab" of the devices to a specialized manufacturer
called a semiconductor foundry. Foundries are typically but not exclusively located in
China
[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]
because of the generally low cost of labor, so fabless companies can benefit from
lower capital costs while concentrating their research and development resources on the end
market.
The credit for pioneering the fabless concept is given to Bernie
Vonderschmitt of Xilinx and Gordon A. Campbell of Chips and Technologies. The first fabless
semiconductor company, the Western Design Center, was founded in 1978. Xilinx, founded in
1984, was the first to "truly" separate the design of chips from their manufacture.
[5]

Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Industry growth and success
3 Sales leaders
4 See also
5 References
MUMPs is a program that assists companies and academic researchers with ideas for micro-
electromechanical systems ( MEMS ) to manufacture prototypes. Since the manufacture of
silicon chips in which MEMS are imbedded is costly, MUMPs provides special manufacturing
"runs" that qualified enterprises can be part of. MUMPs is administered by the MEMS
Technology Application Center (MCNC).
Micromirror device
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Micromirror devices are devices based on microscopically small mirrors. The mirrors
are Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which means that their states are controlled by
applying a voltage between the two electrodes around the mirror arrays. There are digital
micromirror devices used in video projectors and optics and micromirror devices for light
deflection and control.
Digital Micromirror Devices[edit]
See main article digital micromirror device
Digital Micromirror Devices (DMD) were invented by Texas Instruments in 1987 and are the core
of the DLP technology used for video projection. The mirrors are arranged in a matrix and have
two states, "on" or "off" (digital). In the on state, light from the projector bulb is reflected into the
lens making the pixel appear bright on the screen. In the off state, the light is directed elsewhere
(usually onto a heatsink), making the pixel appear dark. Colours could be produced by various
technologies like different light sources or gratings.
Light Deflection and Control[edit]
The mirrors could not only be switched between two states, their rotation is in fact continuous.
This could be used for controlling the intensity and direction of incident light. One future
application is controlling the light in buildings, based on micromirrors between the two panes
of Insulated glazing. The power and direction of the incident light is determined by the mirrors
state, which itself is controlled electrostatically.
[1]

MEMS BASED MICROMIRROR ARRAYS FOR VISION SYSTEMS AND
DISPLAY APPLICATIONS
by Murali Jayapala, Ph.D.
Senior Researcher, IMEC
The possibility to fabricate micromirror arrayshas sparked
a revolution in display systems. Today, devices using micromirror arrays
arealready indispensable in many products, such as large-scale projection
engines or portable projectors. But the promise of micromirror technology
is much broader -- it is the enabling force behind a range of research paths in
spectroscopy, lithography, volumetric displays and optical networking, just to
name a few.
In this article we highlight some of the recent advances in micromirror arrays, made
possible by using silicon-germanium (SiGe) MEMS technology. We also present two
sample applications enabled by this technology and currently under development:
micromirror-based zoom lenses and high-definition holographic displays.
Monolithically integrated MEMS allow massive micromirror arrays
MEMS, such as micromirror arrays, are driven by signal conditioning circuits.
Today, about half of the current MEMS market uses a hybrid approach, developing
MEMS and controlling ICs separately. Since this approach is modular, it has a
shorter development time compared to the monolithic approach. It also allows for
independent optimization of IC and MEMS technologies. However, the advantages
of monolithic integration outweigh the disadvantages for those systems where
performance and miniaturization is of key importance for the application, or when
many (think of millions) interconnections are needed between MEMS and CMOS.
With SiGe MEMS technology, it is possible to integrate MEMS, e.g. micromirrors, on
top of CMOS using SiGe as structural material, in a MEMS-last process. SiGe is as
reliable as silicon, but it can be processed at much lower temperatures, i.e. below
450C. This allows one to process layers on top of a finished CMOS chip without
damaging it. MEMS made from SiGe are extremely reliable and they can be driven
very precisely. They show little creep, especially compared to materials such as
aluminum. Moreover, and contrary to other monolithic approaches such as MEMS-
first or MEMS-interleaved, this approach allows for a high degree of modularity, and
it can be implemented in low-cost and state-of-the-art CMOS foundries.
In our R&D fab, we added SiGe processes to a CMOS flow. We used a multilayer
process that combines chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and plasma-enhanced
chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) to produce high-quality films at relatively low
temperature below 450C. We reached a low resistivity of 1.45 mcm, a tensile
residual stress of 35MPa and a very low strain gradient of 3.6x10-6 m-1 for 10 m
thick layers. The contact between Al and SiGe was found to be ohmic, as required for
CMOS integration. In our platform, we used state-of-the art equipment for the SiGe
deposits and for deep reactive ion etching of SiGe, to ensure a high within-wafer and
wafer-to-wafer uniformity and a high process yield.
With the poly-SiGe MEMS platform described above, we succeeded in fabricating a
reliable CMOS-integrated 10 cm 11 MPixel SiGe-based micromirror array. This
array is to be used as spatial light modulator (e.g. for video projection, mask writers,
optical mask-less lithography). Its 11 million 8mx8m-pitch mirrors can each be
individually addressed by an analog voltage to enable an accurate tilt angle. The
pixel density of this array is almost double compared to the state-of-the-art. For this
array, we demonstrated a stable average cupping below 7 nm, root mean square
(RMS) roughness below 1 nm and long lifetime (>1012 cycles, no creep). The mirror
array was processed on top of standard 0.18 m analog-CMOS wafers, featuring 6
interconnect levels.

Cross-section of integrated mirror array, showing the mirrors on top of the 6
layers of Al interconnect.
Micromirror-based optical zoom lenses
Mobile phones become more powerful with each generation, and the features on the
integrated cameras have kept a similar pace: higher megapixels, extra features in
camera photo editing, photo styles and even video.
But one feature that is still lacking in mobile phones is a full optical zoom. Todays
digital zoom systems still have a significantly lower image quality than would be
achieved with real optical zoom lenses. Digital zooming is based on the principle that
an image is taken at a focal length which is fixed for that camera. The resulting
image is then cropped and scaled with software to achieve the appropriate
magnification. This works for relatively short zoom ranges, but for larger zooms the
image quality seriously degrades.
Conventional, optical zooms use variable focal length lenses. These allow for a much
better quality, but they require complex, macroscopically protruding optical
elements. So they are not compatible with a small, fixed form factor, required by e.g.
small mobile devices.
Based on micromirror arrays, we are developing a zoom lens system that is at the
same time compact and fixed, and that works with as a lens with variable focal
length. These smart lenses overcome the form factor limitations by providing
optical zooming without macroscopic movements of optical elements. Our zoom
system for mobile phones will have a 3.5x zoom and a compact form factor of 7x5x20
mm. T he zooming is achieved without changing the form factor.
The basis of our smart lens is a planar micromirror array, with the mirrors arranged
in concentric circles, i.e. a polar grid array. It is possible to set up the array so that it
behaves as a variable focal length lens. This is illustrated in the figure below: by
controlling the tilt angles of individual mirrors in the array, parallel rays can be
focused onto a focal point and a specific focal distance. So by changing the tilt angles
of micromirrors in the array in accordance with this relation, the focal lens is
changed. For instance, given a polar grid array with a diameter of 7 mm, with
mirrors with a maximum tilt angle of 2 degrees, the focal length can be varied from
50 mm to infinity.

Schema of a lens with variable focal length, made with a planar polar grid
micromirror array.

In 2010, using an optical simulation tool, weve successfully modeled the required
micromirror arrays (see figure below). With this model, weve simulated
micromirror-based lenses with variable focal-length. In addition, weve drawn up
the specifications for micromirror arrays optimized for mobile phones and
professional cameras. Last, weve also tested micromirror arrays with various hinge
designs, looking for an optimal technology for the smart lenses. In 2011, well
fabricate micromirror prototypes and build a system demonstrator for zooming.

Optical simulation results of a micromirror array as a lens element.
High-quality, real-time holographic displays
The holy grail of visualization technology is undoubtedly holography, promising a 3D
experience that is much more natural than what is possible with todays limited 3D
stereoscopic projection. But the realization of such a high-definition computer-
generated holography (CGH) system remains an open challenge.
The quality of the visualization is to a major extent determined by the physical
properties of the display device: high-definition holographic display requires
hundreds of millions of individually controlled sub-micron diffractive pixels.
Moreover, CGH is extremely computational-intensive, which complicates making
real-time applications.
Holography, as a physical phenomenon, is based on light diffraction and
interference. For it to work properly, with usable viewing angles, the light-diffracting
elements of the holographic display must be sized close to or below the wavelength of
the light, i.e. they have to be sub-micron. And to achieve high-quality visualization,
we need a massive amount of these light-diffractive elements. This is because there
is no one-to-one match between the voxels (3D pixels) representing the 3D scene and
the diffractive pixels on the display; the diffractive pixels are programmed to render
a so-called holographic fringe that recreates the encoded 3D scene as a whole. This
means that each diffractive pixel contributes to a multitude of 3D voxels and the
visual information encoding the 3D scene is distributed (more or less evenly) over
the whole array of the diffractive pixels, i.e. the holographic display.
Today, CGH visualization systems achieve only a relatively low visualization quality
and a narrow viewing angle. The display units are typically based on LCD, LCOS, or
micromirror technologies with scaling limits at around 2-4 m, which limits the
projection angle to less than 10 degrees. Furthermore, the displays with the highest
resolution have at most up to 8 million pixels, which is largely insufficient for
visualization of high-definition 3D scenes.

IMECs diffractive pixels (top left) forming a holographic test chip (bottom left) that
encodes a 3D scene: Focus on A cube (top right) and B cube (bottom right) of the
same scene, i.e. human eyes may naturally focus on the whole scene.
As a solution, we are developing a High-Definition Holographic Display (HoloDis)
based on SiGe NEMS (nano-electromechanical system). In a first step, we have
manufactured test structures ranging from a pixel size of 250 nm to 2,400 nm. We
use these to experimentally verify the theoretical assumptions for computer-
generated holography (see figure above). With the test structures, we also simulate
the diffractive optical behavior and efficiency of such diffractive nanodevices. In
addition, weve started designing a prototype SiGe NEMS holographic display and
weve conducted an architecture study for the monolithic integration of the
diffractive devices and their driver IC.
Our next step will be to manufacture a first prototype HoloDis system with 1 million
sub-micron diffractive devices on a chip. This will be the first prototype
demonstrating holographic video display with a diffraction angle of approximately
30 degree and a projection angle of 15 degree. In the longer term, we aim at realizing
a HoloDis system with more than 900 million diffractive elements with a pixel pitch
of less than 500nm (see figure below). Such HoloDis system is the central building
block for true high-quality 3D visualization systems with projection angles above 30
degrees.

HoloDis: 2D array with millions of individually programmable diffractive nano
devices.
Visualization R&D with SiGe MEMS technology
With our SiGe MEMS technology, we have already fabricated large arrays with
micromirrors of down to 8 m in width. We are now further developing the platform
to produce even smaller micro- and nano-device arrays (below 1 m). These will be
needed to make breakthrough, high-quality 3D holographic displays. We are also
exploring other ways of forming the micromirror surfaces to provide a high
reflectivity and fill factor. This is with the aim to produce high quality micromirror
arrays for smart lens applications. In addition, we further explore the potential of
our MEMS technology for other vision applications, for example diffractive
projection systems or hyperspectral imaging systems.
*********************************************
Dr. Murali Jayapala is a Senior Researcher at IMEC, Belgium. In 2005, he
received his Ph.D. in Applied Sciences (Computer Engineering) from the Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven (KULeuven), Belgium. In 1999, he obtained his M.E. in
Systems Science and Automation from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India. Dr.
Murali Jayapala has co-authored several articles in international conferences and
journals in the field of low power embedded systems design. He has served in
program committees of international conferences and workshops and he is also a
member of IEEE.
Copyright 2011 MEMS Investor Journal, Inc.
April 14, 2011 at 11:35 PM | Permalink
Comments

Thanks to micro mirror arrays which has given real strength to Display System. This
has added value to the whole electronic system
Posted by: NEC Webmaster | April 15, 2011 at 01:45 AM

Is it possible to use PIESO-ELECTRIC material (small pads) to control and move
(changing the angle) of the individual spot micro-mirrors ?
This way adjustable and universal mirror array can be created and dinamic self-
adjustmant and aligment focus will be available for large scale of application
(astronomy, optics, encoding-cripting ....)