Piet De Moor

Fabrication and reliability testing of Ti/TiN heaters

We present a new material for highly resistive heaters: thin Ti/TiN layers. Their resistivity is indeed comparable to the resistivity of NiCr, i.e. 50-100 micro-Ohn-cm. However, as opposed to the latter material, Ti/TiN is CMOS compatible and thus easier to incorporate in CMOS integrated MEMS processing. To test the reliability of thin Ti/TiN resistive heaters, both 5 nm Ti/30 nm TiN and 5 nm Ti/60 nm TiN heaters were fabricated. A thermal analysis shows a small temperature coefficient of resistivity. To test the reliability of such heaters at temperatures up to 300 degrees C, 1 micron wide Ti/TiN lines were biased using high currents. Both DC and pulsed DC current stressing resulted in very small deviations from the initial resistance for sintered and passivated heaters. The temperature uniformity over the heater line is investigated using Emission Microscopy.

Comparison between wet HF etching and vapor HF etching for sacrificial oxide removal

In this work the etching of different Si-oxide, Si-nitride and metal layers in HF:H2O 24.5:75.5, BHF:glycerol 2:1 and vapor HF is studied and compared. The vapor HF etching is done in a commercially available system for wafer cleaning, that was adapted according to custom specifications to enable stiction-free surface micro- machining. The etch rates as a function of etching method, time and temperature are determined. Moreover, the influence of internal and external parameters on the HF vapor etching process are analyzed before choosing the standard HF vapor etch technique used for comparing the etching behavior of the different films.

A high aspect ratio SU-8 fabrication technique for hollow microneedles for transdermal drug delivery and blood extraction

Protein drugs, e.g. hormonal drugs, cannot be delivered orally to a patient as they get digested in the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract. Thus, it is imperative that these kinds of drugs are delivered transdermally through the skin. To provide for real-time feedback as well as to test independently for various substances in the blood, we also need a blood sampling system. Microneedles can perform both these functions. Further, microneedles made of silicon or metal have the risk of breaking inside the skin thereby leading to complications. SU-8, being approved of as being biocompatible by the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) of the United States, is an attractive alternative because firstly it is a polymer material, thereby reducing the chances of breakages inside the skin, and secondly it is a negative photoresist, thereby leading to ease of fabrication. Thus, here we present very tall (around 1600 µm) SU-8 polymer-based hollow microneedles fabricated by a simple and repeatable process, which are a very good candidate for transdermal drug delivery as well as blood extraction. The paper elaborates on the details that allow the fabrication of such extreme aspect ratios (>100).

Poly-SiGe, a superb material for MEMS

In this overview article several MEMS applications of poly-SiGe are discussed: thermal applications, the application as a capping layer for MEMS wafer-level packaging and the use as MEMS structural layer for processing MEMS devices on top of CMOS. For all these applications also different deposition processes have been developed: chemical vapor deposition at reduced pressure (RPCVD), at low pressure (LPCVD) and with plasma enhancement (PECVD). Special techniques to reduce the processing temperature to the absolute minimum are reviewed as well: the use of hydrogenated microcrystalline SiGe, of metal-induced crystallization and of laser annealing. The latter methods are important when one wants to process SiGe MEMS above advanced CMOS with low-permittivity dielectrics.

High performance Hybrid and Monolithic Backside Thinned CMOS Imagers realized using a new integration process

Hybrid and monolithic thinned backside illuminated CMOS imagers operating at full depletion at low substrate voltages were developed. The combination of a 50 mum EPI layer with varying doping concentration and trenches to reduce crosstalk is unique. All thin wafer processing is performed on 200 mm wafers using a specially developed temporary carrier process. As a result, working imagers exhibiting high pixel yield, high quantum efficiency and low dark current are demonstrated

Impact of the limitations of state-of-the-art micro-fabrication processes on the performance of pillar array columns for liquid chromatography

We report on the practical limitations of the current state-of-the-art in micro-fabrication technology to produce the small pillar sizes that are needed to obtain high efficiency pillar array columns. For this purpose, nine channels with a different pillar diameter, ranging from 5 to 0.5 μm were fabricated using state-of the-art deep-UV lithography and deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) etching technology. The obtained results strongly deviated from the theoretically expected trend, wherein the minimal plate height (H(min)) would reduce linearly with the pillar diameter. The minimal plate height decreases from 1.7 to 1.2 μm when going from 4.80 to 3.81 μm diameter pillars, but as the dimensions are further reduced, the minimal plate heights rise again to values around 2 μm. The smallest pillar diameter even produced the worst minimal plate height (4 μm). An in-depth scanning electron microscopy (SEM) inspection of the different channels clearly reveals that these findings can be attributed to the micro-fabrication limitations that are inevitably encountered when exploring the limits of deep-UV lithography and DRIE etching processes. When the target dimensions of the design approach the etching resolution limits, the band broadening increases in a strongly non-linear way with the decreased pillar dimensions. This highly non-linear relationship can be understood from first principles: when the machining error is of the order of 100-200 nm and when the target design size for the inter-pillar distance is of the order of 250 nm, this inevitably leads to pores that will range in size between 50 and 450 nm that we want to highlight with our paper highly non-linear relationship. This highly non-linear relationship can be understood from first principles: when the machining error is of the order of 100-200 nm and when the target design size for the inter-pillar distance is of the order of 250 nm, this inevitably leads to pores that will range in size between 50 and 450 nm.

Extreme ultraviolet detection using AlGaN-on-Si inverted Schottky photodiodes

We report on the fabrication of aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN) Schottky diodes for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) detection. AlGaN layers were grown on silicon wafers by molecular beam epitaxy with the conventional and inverted Schottky structure, where the undoped, active layer was grown before or after the n-doped layer, respectively. Different current mechanisms were observed in the two structures. The inverted Schottky diode was designed for the optimized backside sensitivity in the hybrid imagers. A cut-off wavelength of 280 nm was observed with three orders of magnitude intrinsic rejection ratio of the visible radiation. Furthermore, the inverted structure was characterized using a EUV source based on helium discharge and an open electrode design was used to improve the sensitivity. The characteristic He I and He II emission lines were observed at the wavelengths of 58.4 nm and 30.4 nm, respectively, proving the feasibility of using the inverted layer stack for EUV detection.

Recent Advances in 3D Integration at IMEC

IMEC is focusing its 3D-integration technology developments in 3 distinct directions: 3D-System-in-aPackage (3D-SiP), 3D-Wafer-Level-Packaging (3D-WLP) and 3D-Stacked-IC (3D-SiC). First, the background of these separate approaches will be given. Next the materials and technologies involved, the typical characteristics and the ongoing developments will be discussed. Finally, the roadmap for the 3D-integration in IMEC will be presented.

10 µm pixel-to-pixel pitch hybrid backside illuminated AlGaN-on-Si imagers for solar blind EUV radiation detection

We present the first measurement results from hybrid AlGaN-on-Si-based Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) imagers with 10 µm pixel-to-pixel pitch. The 256×256 backside illuminated Focal Plane Arrays (FPAs) were hybridized to dedicated Si-based CMOS Readouts (ROICs). The AlGaN active layer with 40% Al concentration provides an intrinsic rejection of wavelengths larger than 280 nm (solar blindness), together with enhanced radiation hardness (1). Sensitivity in Deep UV (DUV), Far UV (FUV) and Extreme UV (EUV) was verified using synchrotron radiation down to a wavelength of 1 nm.

Reduction of Electrical Crosstalk in Hybrid Backside Illuminated CMOS Imagers using Deep Trench Isolation

Hybrid backside illuminated CMOS imagers with zero pixel-to-pixel electrical crosstalk were developed. The application of highly doped polysilicon filled high aspect ratio trenches between pixels to reduce crosstalk is unique. These 1¿m wide 50¿m deep trenches enforce a lateral drift field between pixels, which counteracts diffusion and drastically reduces electrical crosstalk. Quantitative crosstalk characterization of trenched and non-trenched imagers is presented.