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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11167980-B2
Application number	US-201514837024-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 27, 2015
Priority date	Apr 12, 2013
Publication date	Nov 9, 2021
Grant date	Nov 9, 2021

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 structure, comprising a beam formed within a sacrificial material region including an upper sacrificial material portion formed over the beam, wherein the sacrificial material region is comprised of tungsten material and silicon material, further comprising a lid formed over the upper sacrificial material portion, the lid including at least two vent holes, wherein a first of the at least two vent holes is located to expose the silicon material in the upper sacrificial material portion above the beam and a second of the at least two vent holes is located to expose the tungsten material in the upper sacrificial material portion above the beam, wherein the beam includes a recess, wherein the tungsten material and silicon material of the upper sacrificial material portion extend into the recess, and wherein the beam separates the sacrificial material region into the upper sacrificial material portion and a lower sacrificial material portion of the sacrificial material region formed below the beam, the beam further comprising an opening in which the upper sacrificial material portion extends into contact with the lower sacrificial material portion.

2. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the beam comprises a first Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) beam structure, and wherein the recess is formed in an upper surface of the first MEMS beam structure facing toward the upper sacrificial material portion and includes the tungsten material and the silicon material.

3. The structure of claim 2 , wherein the upper sacrificial material portion is formed over an upper surface of the first MEMS beam structure and over the recess.

4. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the vent holes has a diameter of about 1 μm.

5. The structure of claim 4 , wherein the lid has a thickness of about 3 μm.

6. The structure of claim 5 , wherein the second one of the at least two vent holes is separated from the first one of the at least two vent holes by at least 6 μm.

7. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the lid is comprised of an insulator.

8. The structure of claim 7 , wherein the insulator is an oxide.

9. The structure of claim 1 , wherein the recess is formed in an upper surface of the beam, and wherein the upper sacrificial material portion is formed over a first portion of the upper surface of the beam located between the recess and the opening.

10. The structure of claim 9 , further comprising a second recess in the upper surface of the beam, and wherein the upper sacrificial material portion is over a second portion of the upper surface of the beam located between the second recess and the opening.

11. The structure of claim 10 , wherein the opening is located between the first and second recess in the upper surface of the beam.

12. The structure of claim 11 , wherein one of the vent holes is located above the opening.

13. The structure of claim 1 , wherein one of the vent holes is located above the opening.

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

• B81C1/00047 Primary

  Cavities · CPC title

• B81C2201/0121

  involving addition of material followed by removal of parts of said material, i.e. subtractive planarization · CPC title

• B81C2201/0176

  Chemical vapour Deposition · CPC title

• B81B2203/0315

  Cavities · CPC title

• B81C2203/0714

  Forming the micromechanical structure with a CMOS process · CPC title