Micro to Nano An Introduction

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Micro to NanoAn Introduction

• Matthias W. Pleil
• mpleil_at_cnm.edu
• Central New Mexico Community College
• and
• Southwest Center for Microsystems Education
• a Regional Advanced Technological Education
  Center
• Funded by the
• National Science Foundation Award No. DUE 0403651

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Outline

• What are MEMS?
• MEMS Applications
• A sense of Scale
• What is Nanotechnology?
• Nanotechnology and MEMS (NEMS)

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What are MEMS?

• Micro Electro Mechanical Systems
• - Miniaturized integrated systems in a small
  package

MEMS is a US centric term, Europeans refer to
Microsystems and Japan calls these small Systems
and devices Mekatronics.
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What are Microsystems (MST)?

• Tiny, integrated, self-aware, stand-alone
  products, (based on microfabricated components)
  that can

Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
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Microsystems and Nanotechnology

• In Europe, Microsystems is the term of choice.
  Also, Nanotechnology is often used
  interchangeably with Microsystems and MEMS.
  Hence the confusion.

Nano Satellites weigh less than 10kg. The units
depicted here are about the size of a paperback.
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MEMS Vs. Integrated Circuits (ICs)

• One way to look at it
• ICs move and sense electrons
• MEMS move and sense mass
• Another
• ICs use Semiconductor processing technologies
• MEMS can use a variety of processes including
  Semiconductor but also Bulk, LIGA, Surface
  Micromachining
• Packaging
• IC packaging consists of electrical connections
  in and out of a sealed environment
• MEMS packaging not only includes input and output
  of electrical signals, but may also include
  optical connections, fluidic capillaries, gas
  channels and openings to the environment. A much
  greater challenge.

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MEMS and ICs

• ICs
• ICs are based on the transistor a basic unit
  or building block of ICs.
• Most ICs are Silicon based, depositing a
  relatively small set of materials.
• Equipment tool sets and processes are very
  similar between different IC fabricators and
  applications there is a dominant front end
  technology base.
• MEMS
• Does not have a basic building block there is
  no MEMS equivalent of a transistor.
• Some MEMS are silicon based and use sacrificial
  surface micromachining (CMOS based) technology.
• Some MEMS are hybrids (different wafer materials
  bonded), some are plastic based or ceramic
  utilizing a variety of processes Surface bulk
  micromachining, LIGA, electrodeposition, hot
  plastic embossing, extrusion on the micro scale
  etc.
• There is no single dominant front end technology
  base but emerging and established MEMS
  applications have started to self-select
  dominant front-end technology pathways (MANCEF
  2nd Roadmap).

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More on What are MEMS?

• MEMS devices first took off in the sensor
  industry.
• Most MEMS devices have at least one transducer
  element.
• To sense
• To actuate

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Why MEMS?

• Smaller!
• Much Lighter!
• Energy Efficient!
• Less Materials!
• Greener!
• More Reliable!
• Cheaper? (Maybe and theres the rub)
• Economy of Scale

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Why Should We Care?

• Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
• MEMS 20 through 2010 (MANCEF Roadmap) for
  established devices
• CAGR is up to 100 for emerging devices (MEMS
  Microphones, BioMEM Sensors)

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Time for Questions?

• Next Topic MEMS Applications

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MEMS Applications

• Accelerometers
• (Inertial Sensors Crash Bags, Navigation,
  Safety)
• Ink Jet Print Heads
• Micro Fluidic Pumps
• Insulin Pump (drug delivery)
• Pressure Sensor
• Auto and Bio applications
• Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs)
• MOEM Micro Optical Electro Mechanical Systems
• DMD Digital Mirror Device
• DM Deformable Mirror
• Chem Lab on a Chip
• Homeland security
• RF (Radio Frequency) MEMS
• Low insertion loss switches (High Frequency)
• Mass Storage Devices

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MEMS Pressure Sensors

• Pressure Sensors
• 1960s technology
• Used primarily in Aerospace industry at the
  beginning.
• Companies
• Kulite
• Honeywell

Makes use of the Micromachining of glass and
silicon (bulk etching).
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Pressure Sensors

• TRW Commercial Gas Engine Sensor - 1985

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Ink Jet

• Ink jet printers are MEMS based late 1970s,
  IBM and HP

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The Accelerometer

• 1987 TRW NovaSensor Accelerometer

Analog Devices 1993 Saab was th first
automobile company to include MEMS accelerometers
to trigger airbags.
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Increasingly Sophisticated Inertial Sensors Are
Being Developed
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Hard Drive Read/Write

• Magnetic read/write heads for hard drives.

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Micro Machines

• Surface Micromachining takes off in the 1990s.
• These photos are from Sandia National Laboratories

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MEMS as Machines

• MEMS are often referred to as Micro Machines.
  Tiny devices that move things.

View of a surface micro machined device close
up of a flip mirror with the legs of a mite.
Each gear tooth is 8 microns wide.
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MOEMs

• Micro Optical Electro Mechanical Systems

MEMS or Microsystems have the potential of
having a greater impact on global business and
society than did the computer chip. - TI
Development started 1980s, first commercial
product - 1996
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How Small are these Mirrors?
Pin Point
Each mirror is about 17µm square!
Ant Leg
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1996 Micro Optics Bench
Berkeley
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Additional Applications of MOEMS
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Micro Needles

• MEMS needle within the opening of a small
  hypodermic needle
• Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center - 1997

Procter and Gamble Plastic Needle Array
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Biomedical Applications
Micromachine needles used to deliver drugs
75 microns
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
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Bio / Chemical Sensors

• This is where you really can see the overlap
  between MEMS and Nanotechnology

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Monolithically Integrated µChemLab
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
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Time for Questions?

• Next Scale and What is Nanotechnology?

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BioMEMS

• The Overlap between microbiology and
  microsystem feature sizes makes integration
  between the two possible

Atom
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http//www.er.doe.gov/bes/Scale_of_Things_07OCT03.
pdf
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MACRO, MICRO AND NANO
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Macro Micro - Nano
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What is Nanotechnology?

• Depends who you talk to!

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What is Nanotechnology?

• Nanotechnology is the understanding and control
  of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100
  nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel
  applications. Encompassing nanoscale science,
  engineering and technology, nanotechnology
  involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and
  manipulating matter at this length scale.
• Courtesy from NNI National Nanotechnology
  Initiative

http//www.nano.gov/html/facts/whatIsNano.html
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What is Nanotechnology?

• MANCEF Roadmap 2nd Edition, p.161 (based on NNI)
• Research and technology development at the
  atomic, molecular or macromolecular levels, in
  the length scale of approximately 1-100nm range.
• Creation and use of structures, devices and
  systems that have novel properties and functions
  because of their small and/or intermediate size.
• An ability to control or manipulate on the atomic
  scale.

See mancef.org
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What is Nanotechnology?

• The name nanotechnology originates from the
  nanometer. In the processing of materials, the
  smallest bit size of stock removal, accretion or
  flow of materials is probably of one atom or one
  molecule namely 0.1-0.2nm in length. Therefore,
  the expected limit size of fineness would be of
  the order of 1nm. Accordingly, nanotechnology
  mainly consists of the processing of separation,
  consolidation and deformation of materials by one
  atom or one molecule.
• N. Taniguchi, on the Basic Concept of
  Nanotechnology, Proc. Intl. Conf. Prod. Eng.
  Tokyo, Part II Japan Society of Precision
  Engineering, 1974

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Bottom Up

• Bottom up approach (some say Nano)
• This means you are making a structure by
  building it atom by atom or molecule by molecule.
  One is actually manipulating and controlling the
  placement of individual atoms or molecules.
• What does this sound like? life
• Analogy A tree takes individual atoms and
  molecules and assembles a leaf.

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Top Down

• Top Down Approach (Micro Machining)
• This is done by selectively removing material
  until you get the structure you want. In
  Semiconductor and some MEMS processing, one
  applies a pattern, selectively etches away
  exposed material and ends up with a circuit.
• What does this sound like?
• Another analogy A carpenter takes the tree,
  removes some of the materials to form a plank
  which is used to construct a desk.

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Is Semiconductor IC Fabrication Micro or Nano?

• YES! Both!
• Classically, Semiconductors has evolved over the
  years through the deposition of materials (can be
  very thin layers) and the selective removal of
  materials through the Photolithography and Etch
  processes.
• Some of the materials deposited (Gate Oxide) is
  thinner than 1nm!
• Some of the gate widths patterned and
  subsequently etched are now on the order of less
  that 50nm!
• Intel and others consider this Nanotechnology!
  (Creating structures less than 100nm).

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Is Nanotechnology New?

• Not really, other names used in the past
• DNA
• Microbiology
• Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Molecular Chemistry, Molecular engineering
• It has been around for centuries
• Carbon Black (soot) contains nanotubes

Rosalind Franklin
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Nanoscience Vs Nanotechnology

• Nanoscience is concerned with the study of novel
  phenomena and properties of materials that occur
  at extremely small length scales.
• Nanotechnology is the application of nanoscale
  science, engineering and technology to produce
  novel materials and devices.
• MANCEF Roadmap 2nd Edition

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What is Nano?Summary

• Simplified
• If it is less than 100nm in any dimension it
  can be called nanotechnology regardless of how
  it was made.
• If it is made by specifically placing materials
  atom by atom or molecule by molecule it is also
  nanotechnology.
• If it is bottom up its nano
• If it has unique properties because of its small
  size its nano

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Time for Questions?

• Next Nanotechnology meets MEMS

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Nanotechnology Meets MEMS
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Nanotechnology enables new system functions
the BioCavity Laser
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NEMSNano Electro Mechanical Systems
A gold dot, about 50 nanometers in diameter,
fused to the end of a cantilevered oscillator
about 4 micrometers long. A one-molecule-thick lay
er of a sulfur-containing chemical deposited on
the gold adds a mass of about 6 attograms, which
is more than enough to measure. Craighead
Group/ Cornell Univeristy
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Detection of a single E.coli Cell
Single Cell on Cantilever
AFM of E.Coli Cells
Resonance Shift due to Single Cell
From the webpage of Prof. Harold G. Craighead ,
School of Applied and Engineering Physics,
Cornell University
http//www.hgc.cornell.edu/biomems.html
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Detection of Single DNA
Gold dot 40nm SiN thickness 90nm
By changing the coating (Nano) one can
functionalize the cantilever to detect single
strands of DNA. Mass resolution is on the order
of under 1 ato gram (10-18grams)
http//www.hgc.cornell.edu/Nems20Folder/Enumerati
on20of20Single20DNA.html
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NEMS (Nano MEMS)

• Process used to make cantilever sensors Cornell
  Philip S. Waggoner

Cantilever is the MEMS part functionalizing it
is the Nano piece.
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Mass Storage - IBM
IBMs Millipede 100 Tera Bit per square inch!
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Mass Storage - Nanochip
Currently 15nm X 15nm per bit density 5nm X 5nm
in the future NAND flash is at 100nm X 100nm per
bit
Uses 1um Semiconductor equipment NAND Flash uses
70nm equipment

• http//www.nanochip.com/tech.htm

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Summary

• MEMS and Nanotechnology overlap
• Nanotechnology enables MEMS and MEMS enables
  Nanotechnology
• MEMS provide the bridge to Nanotechnology!

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Acknowledgements
Funding for the SCME is provided by the National
Science Foundation
Award No. DUE 0403651

• MERC
• CNM Central New Mexico Community College
• Sandia National Laboratories
• And many others

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