Development of a MEMS testing methodology

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are miniature electromechanical sensor and actuator systems developed from the mature batch-fabricated processes of VLSI technologies. Projected growth in the MEMS market requires significant advances in CAD and manufacturing for MEMS. These advances must be accompanied with testing methodologies that ensure both high quality and reliability. We describe our approach for developing a comprehensive testing methodology for a class of MEMS known as surface micromachined sensors. Our first step involving manufacturing process and low-level mechanical simulations is illustrated by studying the effects of realistic contaminations on the folded-flexure comb-drive resonator. The simulation results obtained indicate that realistic contaminations can create a variety of defective structures that result in a wide spectrum of faulty behaviors