Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) structures and design structures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10589991-B2
Application number	US-201815894119-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2018
Priority date	Apr 12, 2013
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) structures, methods of manufacture and design structures are disclosed. The method includes forming a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) beam structure by venting both tungsten material and silicon material above and below the MEMS beam to form an upper cavity above the MEMS beam and a lower cavity structure below the MEMS beam.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method comprising:
forming a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) beam structure comprising:
forming a sacrificial material, which is comprised of both tungsten material and semiconductor material, on a substrate;
forming the MEMS beam structure above the tungsten material and the semiconductor material;
forming both the tungsten material and the semiconductor material above the MEMS beam structure;
forming a lid over the tungsten material formed above the MEMS beam structure;
etching the semiconductor material formed above the MEMS beam structure while etching the tungsten material formed above the MEMS beam structure to form an upper cavity structure above the MEMS beam structure and below the lid; and
etching both the tungsten material and the semiconductor material below the MEMS beam structure to form a lower cavity structure above the substrate and below the MEMS beam structure,

wherein the etching the semiconductor material formed above the MEMS beam structure, the tungsten material formed above the MEMS beam structure, and both the tungsten material and the semiconductor material below the MEMS beam structure comprises performing an XeF 2 etching process.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the etching and film thicknesses of the tungsten material and the semiconductor material above the MEMS beam structure are controlled to ensure that all or substantially all of the tungsten material is removed above the MEMS beam structure, prior to the semiconductor material above the MEMS beam structure.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor material is one of silicon material and germanium material.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the semiconductor material is silicon material, and wherein the tungsten material and silicon material below the MEMS beam structure comprises forming the tungsten material on the substrate and forming the silicon material over the tungsten material.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the tungsten material and silicon material above the MEMS beam structure comprises forming the silicon material within a via in contact with the silicon material below the MEMS beam structure and forming the tungsten material over the silicon material.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising forming a vent hole in the lid to expose at least the silicon material above the MEMS beam structure.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the tungsten material at least one of above and below the MEMS beam structure is formed by a physical vapor deposition process followed by a chemical vapor deposition process.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising forming an additional silicon material on the tungsten material above the MEMS beam structure.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
planarizing the additional silicon material; and
forming the lid over the planarized additional silicon material.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lid is formed with a planar surface on an underside thereof by depositing the lid directly on one of the tungsten material formed over the MEMS beam structure or another layer of semiconductor material formed on the tungsten material formed over the MEMS beam structure.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sacrificial material has a height between 0.1 to 10 μm.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor material is formed over the tungsten material to form the sacrificial material.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the tungsten material is formed by a combination of a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process and a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, and the semiconductor material is formed by a CVD process.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the tungsten material is formed to a depth of about 0.3 μm and the semiconductor material is formed to a depth of about 2 μm.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tungsten material is vented continually while the semiconductor material is etched above the MEMS beam structure.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor material in the sacrificial material has a greater thickness than a thickness of tungsten material in the sacrificial material above the MEMS beam structure.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the semiconductor material comprises silicon, and wherein the tungsten material is vented continually while the silicon is etched above the MEMS beam structure.

18. A method comprising:
forming a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) beam structure comprising:
forming a sacrificial material, which is comprised of both tungsten material and semiconductor material, on a substrate;
forming the MEMS beam structure above the tungsten material and the semiconductor material;
forming both the tungsten material and the semiconductor material above the MEMS beam structure;
forming a lid over the tungsten material formed above the MEMS beam structure;
etching the semiconductor material formed above the MEMS beam structure while etching the tungsten material formed above the MEMS beam structure to form an upper cavity structure above the MEMS beam structure and below the lid; and
etching both the tungsten material and the semiconductor material below the MEMS beam structure to form a lower cavity structure above the substrate and below the MEMS beam structure,

wherein the etching the semiconductor material formed above the MEMS beam structure, the tungsten material formed above the MEMS beam structure, and both the tungsten material and the semiconductor material below the MEMS beam structure comprises performing an XeF 2 etching process,
wherein the semiconductor material is silicon material, and wherein forming the tungsten material and silicon material below the MEMS beam structure comprises forming the tungsten material on the substrate and forming the silicon material over the tungsten material,
wherein the tungsten material and silicon material above the MEMS beam structure comprises forming the silicon material within a via in contact with the silicon material below the MEMS beam structure and forming the tungsten material over the silicon material, and
further comprising:
forming a vent hole in the lid to expose at least the silicon material above the MEMS beam structure;
forming an additional silicon material on the tungsten material above the MEMS beam structure
planarizing the additional silicon material;
forming the lid over the planarized additional silicon material;
forming another vent hole in the lid, exposing the additional silicon material; and
etching the silicon material and the tungsten material above the MEMS beam structure and the additional silicon material to form the upper cavity.

19. A method comprising:
forming a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) beam structure comprising:
forming a sacrificial material, which is comprised of both tungsten material and semiconductor material, on a substrate;
forming the MEMS beam structure above the tungsten material and the semiconductor material;
forming both the tungsten material and the semiconductor material above the MEMS beam structure;
forming a lid over the tungsten material formed above the MEMS beam structure;
etching the semiconductor material formed above the MEMS beam structure while etching the tungsten material formed above the MEMS beam structure to form an upper cavity structure above the MEMS beam structure and below the lid; and
etching both the tungsten material and the semiconductor material below the MEMS beam structure to form a lower cavity structure abo

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Brigham Michael T
• Jahnes Christopher V
• Luce Cameron E
• Maling Jeffrey C
• Murphy William J
• Stamper Anthony K
• White Eric J

Classifications

• B81C1/00531

  Dry etching · CPC title

• B81C2203/0109

  Bonding an individual cap on the substrate · CPC title

• B81B2203/0118

  Cantilevers · CPC title

• G06F30/20

  Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) · CPC title

• B81C2203/0145

  Hermetically sealing an opening in the lid · CPC title