Characterisation of aluminium passivation for TMAH based anisotropic etching for MEMS applications

Author

Lian, Knut ; Smith, Stcwart ; Rankin, N. ; Walton, A.J. ; Gundlach, Alan ; Stevenson, Tom

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Edinburgh Univ., UK

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Firstpage

210

Lastpage

214

Abstract

A cross-bridge linewidth test structure has been used to analyse, both electrically and physically, the effect of a new anisotropic silicon etch composition that has been designed to have an increased selectivity with aluminium. To characterise the effect of the etch on aluminium tracks, electrical measurements have been made to obtain sheet resistance and linewidth. These results are presented in combination with SEM micrographs to evaluate the surface quality of the exposed aluminium.

Keywords

aluminium; etching; micromachining; micromechanical devices; passivation; silicon; Al; Al passivation characterisation; Al-Si; MEMS applications; SEM micrographs; Si; TMAH based anisotropic etching; anisotropic Si etch composition; cross-bridge linewidth test structure; electrical measurements; etchant selectivity; linewidth; sheet resistance; surface quality evaluation; Aluminum; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Electric resistance; Electric variables measurement; Electrical resistance measurement; Etching; Micromechanical devices; Passivation; Silicon; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microelectronic Test Structures, 2000. ICMTS 2000. Proceedings of the 2000 International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6275-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICMTS.2000.844433

Filename

844433