Electro-optical characterization of IC compatible microcantilevers

Abstract

The aim of this work is to simulate and optically characterize the piezoelectric performance of CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) compatible microcantilevers based on aluminium nitride (A1N) and manufactured at room temperature. This study should facilitate the integration of piezoelectric micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices such as microcantilevers, in CMOS technology.Besides compatibility with standard integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing procedures, low temperature processing also translates into higher throughput and, as a consequence, lower manufacturing costs. Thus, the use of the piezoelectric properties of A1N manufactured by reactive sputtering at room temperature is an important step towards the integration of this type of devices within future CMOS technology standards. To assess the reliability of our fabrication process, we have manufactured arrays of free-standing microcantilever beams of variable dimension and studied their To complete the study, X-Ray diffraction as well as d 33 piezoelectric coefficient measurements were also carried out.