Technology Development for MEMS: A Tutorial

Silicon sensors date back to before 1960 with early Hall and piezoresistive devices. These used simple processing that was part of the early integrated circuit (IC) industry. As the IC industry developed, silicon sensors could benefit from the technological advances. As silicon sensors advanced, there came the need for new technologies...

From Silicon toward Silicon Carbide Smart Integrated Sensors

Self-folding using capillary forces

Self-folding broadly refers to the assembly of 3D structures by bending, curving, and folding without the need for manual or mechanized intervention. Self-folding is scientifically interesting because examples of self-folded structures, from plant leaves to gut villi to cerebral gyri, abound in nature. From an engineering and technological...

PECVD silicon carbide surface micromachining technology and selected MEMS applications

Attractive material properties of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposited (PECVD) silicon carbide (SiC) when combined with CMOS-compatible low thermal budget processing provides an ideal technology platform for developing various microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and merging them with integrated circuits. In this paper we present a...

Deep anisotropic dry etching of silicon microstructures by high-density plasmas

This thesis deals with the dry etching of deep anisotropic microstructures in monocrystalline silicon by high-density plasmas. High aspect ratio trenches are necessary in the fabrication of sensitive inertial devices such as accellerometers and gyroscopes. The etching of silicon in fluorine-based plasmas is isotropic. To obtain anisotropy the...