Influence of masking layer stress on anisotropic silicon etching in TMAH solutions

Author

Decarli, M. ; Guarnieri, Valerio ; Pal, R. ; Giacomozzi, F. ; Margesin, B. ; Zen, Mathieu

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. & Commun. Technol., Trento Univ., Italy

fYear

2003

fDate

17-20 March 2003

Firstpage

25

Lastpage

28

Abstract

Nowadays MEMS device fabrication requires an accurate knowledge of silicon etching parameters. We studied the relation between thin film masking layers residual stress and the orientation dependence of the silicon etching rate using TMAH solutions. In particular we focused on widely used masking films such as SiO/sub 2/ and Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/. Dedicated test structures were designed, fabricated and tested. We found an influence of the masking layer residual stress on the silicon etching rate anisotropy and a lower value of anisotropy for higher stressed structures.

Keywords

etching; internal stresses; masks; micromechanical devices; scanning electron microscopy; MEMS device fabrication; Si-Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/; Si-SiO/sub 2/; TMAH solutions; anisotropic silicon etching; etching rate anisotropy; masking films; masking layer stress; orientation dependence; residual stress; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Bridge circuits; Geometrical optics; Micromechanical devices; Residual stresses; Silicon; Substrates; Temperature; Testing; Wet etching;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microelectronic Test Structures, 2003. International Conference on

Conference_Location

Monterey, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7653-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICMTS.2003.1197364

Filename

1197364