Design and fabrication of SiGe MEMS structures with high intrinsic ESD robustness

Author

Sangameswaran, Sandeep ; Cherman, Vladimir ; De Coster, Jeroen ; Witvrouw, Ann ; Groeseneken, Guido ; De Wolf, Ingrid

Author_Institution

Imec, Heverlee, Belgium

fYear

2012

fDate

15-19 April 2012

Abstract

The mechanical response of electrostatically-actuated MEMS to ESD stress leads to contact breakdown or to discharges across micro-gaps. This is the root cause of most MEMS failures under ESD stress. This paper discusses improvement of the intrinsic ESD robustness of SiGe MEMS from Class0 (<;250V) to more than Class1 (>;500V), through smart design variations and higher mechanical stiffness. A MEMS-based one-time ESD-protection fuse with pre-defined trigger voltage is shown as an application.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; electrostatic discharge; micromechanical devices; MEMS failure; MEMS-based one-time ESD-protection fuse; SiGe; SiGe MEMS structure design; SiGe MEMS structure fabrication; contact breakdown; electrostatically-actuated MEMS; high intrinsic ESD robustness; mechanical response; mechanical stiffness; predefined trigger voltage; smart design variation; Electrodes; Electrostatic discharges; Fuses; Micromechanical devices; Robustness; Silicon germanium; Stress; ESD; ESD protection; MEMS; Reliability; Robustness;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS), 2012 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

1541-7026

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-1678-2

Electronic_ISBN

1541-7026

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IRPS.2012.6241822

Filename

6241822