Abstract
Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposited at 150 °C by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is investigated as a structural layer for low temperature microelectromechanical system (MEMS) fabrication. The process development of depositing thick a-Si:H films and the material characterization of the film stress and hydrogen content is presented. To demonstrate a MEMS application, bimorph thermal actuators incorporating a-Si:H and aluminum were designed and fabricated resulting in tip deflection of hundreds of microns. The PECVD film coverage of various sidewall structures was also studied by scanning electron microscopy. Our a-Si:H films formed a sidewall coverage angle of 80° with the substrate. Mechanical simulations relate this angle within the range of minimum stress and maximum deflection of the actuator. Our results indicate that amorphous silicon is as an attractive structural material offering a low thermal budget for post-processing and integration of MEMS devices with complementary metal-oxide–semiconductor technology.
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