EEL6935 Advanced MEMS (Spring 2005)

Instructor: Dr. Huikai Xie

Lecture 17
RF MEMS (5)
Agenda:

MEMS Switches
Non-electrostatic switches
Packaging

Most figures and data in this lecture, unless cited otherwise, were taken from RF
MEMS Theory, Design and Technology by G. Rebeiz.

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 3/23/2005 1

Non-Electrostatic MEMS Switches

Thermal-Electrostatic DC-Contact Switch

Magnetic Latching Series Switch
Lateral DC-Contact Series Switch
Piezeoelectric Actuation
Rotary Switch

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 2

 Thermal-Electrostatic MEMS Switch

ST-Microelectronics
Thermal actuation: Large
displacement, low voltage but high
power consumption
Thermal actuation temporarily
closes the bridge. Then
electrostatic actuation takes over
and thermal heating is immediately
turned off.
Electrostatic actuation: Low power
Membrane consists of compressive
and tensile stresses
Integrated heater (TaN)
Actuation voltage: 5-25 V
Switch time: 250-400 s

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 3

Bistable Magnetic MEMS Switch

Microlab, Inc.
Permalloy beam aligns with
external permanent H field
Clockwise or counter-clockwise
tilting depends on
magnetization of the beam
A coil (20 turns) is placed
under the beam and a current
pulse generates a momentary
H field to change the
magnetization orientation and
thus flip the switch
Only a short current pulse is
Easy axis needed and no hold-down
power is need Low Power
Actuation current/voltage: 80-
120 mA/5-6 V
Ruan et al, MEMS 2001
Switch time: 0.4 ms
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 4
 Lateral MEMS Switches

Lateral Actuation

Single-layer structure
Bi-directional forces
High aspect-ratio structures for high-current handling (50-500mA)
Bulk micromachining, thick poly-Si, electroplating
Roughness of sidewalls
High-force actuators needed, such as thermal, PZT
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 5

Lateral DC-Contact MEMS Switch-1

Cronos (now MEMSCap)

(Wood, Madadevan, Streeter, et al.)

A thermal arch beam over an integrated resistive heater and a

thermal isolation trench
Thick electroplating nickel (~10m) structures
2mN force and 10m displacement for 75K temperature rise
The switch contact is thermally isolated from the actuator
Actuation power: 150-250 mW Switch resistance: 0.7
Switch time: 6-10 ms Maximum RF current: 350 mA
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 6
 Lateral DC-Contact MEMS Switch-2

UC-Davis
(Wang et al., MEMS02)

V-shaped thermal actuator

Polysilicon heater
Displacement magnified at the
center beam
LPCVD SiN for electrical and
thermal isolation from heater
4-5m displacement at 6-8V/30-
40mW
Contact force: 1mN
Switch time: 6-10 ms
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 7

PZT-Based MEMS Switch

Piezoelectric Actuation

Low-voltage operation (1-5V)

No charging effects
Force depends on the polarity of applied voltage
Thus restoring force includes both spring force and PZT force
3-5m PZT layer needed for 1-2mN contact force
Issues: PZT deposition, etching and compatibility

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 8

 Substrate Transfer Process

Silicon is dominant IC fabrication substrate but

lousy for RF signals
RF requires low-loss, high-resistivity substrate

One solution:
Fabricate RF MEMS switches on a silicon subsrate
Then transfer the devices on a high-resistivity substrate
(e.g. quartz)
Issues:
Yield
Thermal expansion coefficient mismatch

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 9

Substrate Transfer Process-1

UC-Berkeley MEMS Switch

(Milanovic et al., MEMS 2000)

(a) P-Si substrate 2um

SiO20.6um poly-Si
1um nitride0.5um gold
electroplating gold
bumps (6-8um)
(b) Release (wet HF) flip-
chip wafer bonding to
quartz substrate
(c) Remove silicon substrate
in an isotropic silicon
enchant

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 10

 Substrate Transfer Process-2
Univ of Colorado, Boulder
(Harsh et al., Sensors & Actuators 2000)

(a) MEMS device (made of gold) on a Si wafer over sacrificial SiO2. 2-4um
Indium bumps are deposited.
(b) Thermosonic flip-chip wafer bonding
(c) Tow wafers are also glued at some peripheral points using epoxy
(d) Wet release. Then break epoxy and remove the silicon substrate.
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 11

RF MEMS Switch Packaging

Conventional hermetic packaging

On-wafer hermetic packaging
epoxy seals
metal-to-metal solder bonding
glass-to-glass anodic bonding
glass frit bonding
gold-to-gold thermo-compression bonding

RF Feed-through for on-wafer hermetic

packaging

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 12

 Conventional Hermetic Packaging

Long-term satellite and defense applications

Very expensive
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 13

Wafer-Scale Hermetic Packaging

Hermetic
NOT high
vacuum for
switches

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 14

 Localized Heating Hermetic Packaging

Cheng et al, JMEMS, 2001

Polysilicon heater
Temperature can be locally raised to 700C
Suitable for Al/Si-to-glass, PSG-to-glass or Indium-to-glass bonding
Issue: outgassing of aluminum solder layer

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 15

Indent Reflow Hermetic Packaging

Tilmans, et al, JMEMS, 2000

Solder reflow at 220-350C

Plastic underfill to avoid voids and increase shear strength
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 16
 Gold-to-Gold Hermetic Packaging

Also applicable to glass-to-glass or combined with local heating

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 17

PSG/LPCVD Sealing

High temperature
Low pressure
High Q
May not suitable
for RF MEMS
switches

Lin et al, JMEMS, 1998

EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 18

 Polyimide Packaging

Developed by Lockheed Martin

Inexpensive; Low temperature
Issue: polyimide is not hermetic
Not suitable for RF MEMS switches, but good for MEMS varactors and
tunable filters.
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 19

RF Feed-Through

Y.-K. Park et al, MEMS 2002

Good for up to 40 GHz

It is challenging for 40-100 GHz
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 20
 Summary
Non-electrostatic MEMS switches
High current handling
Better contact due to larger forces
Combination of electrostatic with thermal or magnetic to obtain
large stroke and low power simultaneously
Relatively slow
High power consumption (electrothermal)
Packaging
Hermetic
Temperature budget
Material compatibility
Contamination
Outgassing
Low pressure is not good for MEMS switches
EEL6935 Advanced MEMS 2005 H. Xie 21