Analysis of the Effect of ESD on the Operation of MEMS

Author

Greason, William D.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Volume

45

Issue

6

fYear

2009

Firstpage

2185

Lastpage

2191

Abstract

The effect of charge injection due to electrostatic discharge on the operation of capacitive microelectromechanical-systems (MEMS) structures is studied. A summary of charge transfer for the human-body model, the charged-device model (CDM), and the field-induced CDM is presented. The reliability of MEMS due to the trapped charge is assessed using a figure of merit based on the forces due to the voltage and charge states of operation. An electric-field model for the air gap and dielectric layer is employed to determine surface-charge densities to yield the breakdown of the air gap or dielectric layer and the onset of stiction.

Keywords

charge injection; electric breakdown; electrostatic discharge; micromechanical devices; reliability; stiction; ESD; MEMS; air gap; capacitive microelectromechanical systems; charge injection; charge transfer; charged-device model; dielectric breakdown; dielectric layer; electric-field model; electrostatic discharge; field-induced CDM; human-body model; reliability; stiction; surface-charge densities; trapped charge; Charge injection; dielectric breakdown; electrostatic discharge (ESD); microelectromechanical systems (MEMS); stiction;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-9994

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TIA.2009.2031881

Filename

5238526