Fabrication of Energy

Conversion Device
II

(Microfabrication)
 Introduction
 Microfabrication is the term used to describe processes of fabricating
nano/microscale structures.
 It may also be regarded as fabrication processes that involve lithography
as the key technology.
 Lithography allows for exact control over the shape of the structure, and
the process is suitable for mass production.
 Important processes in microfabrication:
• Lithography
• Deposition
• Etching
• Lift-off
• Doping

Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)

 Lithography
Film deposition: Film to be patterned
(metal, silicon oxide, silicon nitride,
polymers, thin photo-sensitive polymer
(photoresist), etc.) is prepared on a
wafer by using film deposition
techniques which includes spin coating,
sputtering, evaporation and oxidation.

Exposure: Photoresist layer is exposed

to a pattern of UV light defined by a
photomask (silica plate with a metal).

Development: Part of the photoresist is

removed by a developing solution or a
spray developer.

Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)

 Deposition – Spin Coating
 Spin coating is a technique used to spread uniform thin films on flat substrates by
centrifugal force by using spin-coater/spinner.
 It is one of the easiest ways to deposit various types of solution materials:
polymers, nanoparticles and biomaterials which usually requires a drying or baking
process (soft baking).
 Film thickness are defined by spin speed, viscosity of the solution, spin time,
solution density, solvent evaporation rate and surface wettability.

• Solution of material is dispensed onto the center

of a wafer, which is then rotated at high speed.
• Rotation continues until excess solution spins off
the substrate and desired thickness of the film is
left on the substrate.
• Applied solvent is usually volatile and evaporates
during deposition.
• Soft baking (< ~100°C) is performed to
evaporate the residual solvent and anneal the
mechanical stress.

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Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)
Film Deposition Technique
Classification Type/Techniques/methods
Evaporative Vacuum evaporation (conventional vacuum evaporation, electron beam
processes evaporation, molecular-beam epitaxy, reactive evaporation)

Glow- Sputtering (diode sputtering, reactive sputtering, bias sputtering/ion planting,

discharge magnetron sputtering, ion beam deposition, ion beam sputter deposition, reactive ion
processes planting, cluster deposition)
Plasma processes (plasma-enhanced CVD, -oxidation, -anodization, -
polymerization, -nitridation, -reduction, microwave ECR plasma CVD, cathodic arc
deposition)
Gas-phase Chemical vapor deposition CVD (atmospheric-pressure CVD (APCVD), low-
chemical pressure CVD (LPCVD), metalorgainc CVD (MOCVD), photo-enhanced CVD
processes (PHCVD), laser-induced CVD (PCVD), electron-enhanced CVD )
Thermal forming processes (thermal oxidation, thermal nitridation, thermal
polymerization)
Ion implantation
Liquid-phase Electro processes (electroplating, electroless plating, electrolytic anodization,
chemical chemical reduction plating, chemical displacement plating, electrophoretic deposition )
processes Mechanical Technique (spray pyrolysis, spra-on technique, spin-on technique)
Liquid phase epitaxy

Handbook of Thin-Film Deposition Processes and Techniques, Principles, Methods, Equipment and Applications, Second Edition
Deposition – Thermal Evaporation
 Vacuum evaporation (thermal evaporation) process comprises evaporating source
materials in a vacuum chamber below 10-4 Pa and condensing the evaporated
atoms on a substrate.
 Source materials are evaporated by
• Resistively heated filament or boat (W, Mo, and Ta, with or without ceramic
coatings).
• Indirect heating by electron beam of source in crucibles of quartz, graphite,
alumina, beryllia, boron-nitride, and zirconia.

Handbook of Sputter Deposition Technology

Deposition – Thermal Evaporation

Al film deposited on quartz substrate with thickness of 22 nm.

Applied Surface Science 183 (2001) 223

 Deposition – Thermal Oxidation
 Thermal oxidation is a process of growing oxide thin layer on the surface of wafer
in which silicon dioxide is produced from silicon atoms of wafer.
 It is a clean process since it required only oxygen and water.
 Silicon dioxide is resistant to most etching solutions used for etching metals or
silicon (masking).
 It is performed at 900 – 1100°C and has two type dry oxygen (dry oxidation) or
oxygen with water vapor (wet oxidation).

Oxide thickness:

t: process time
B: parameter determined by
oxidation conditions

Introduction to Microfabrication
Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)
 Deposition – Thermal Oxidation

Dry oxidation Wet oxidation

Wet oxidation is much faster than dry oxidation, but the obtained oxide films
tend to be more porous.

J. Appl. Phys. 36 (1965) 3770

 Photolithography Exposure
 Photolithography is a process which uses light, photomask and photosensitive
material to facilitate the transfer of a specific pattern onto another layer on the
substrate.
 Mask aligner is used to align the mask and the substrate pattern which includes a
microscope and mechanical stages that facilitate precise alignment between the
photomask and the substrate.
 The resolution of photolithography is defined by the fineness of the light pattern
imaged through the photomask which is subject to diffraction of light and that
exposure.
 Exposure can be categorized:
• Contact and proximity exposure
• Projection exposure

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Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)
 Photolithography Exposure
 Contact and proximity exposure is a method where light patterns are formed in the
near field of the photomask and the patterns are described as Fresnel diffraction.
 Minimum resolvable feature size of the Fresnel diffraction:
Resolution limit =
where λ is the wavelength and d=g+t is summation of the photomask-photoresist
separation, g, and the photoresist thickness, t.

For a typical proximity exposure,

the thickness of a photoresist
film is ~ < 1 μm, and the gap is
~ 10 – 20 μm, λ is 400 nm, the
resolution limit ~ 3 μm

Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)

 EB-Lithography Exposure
 Electron-beam (e-beam) lithography is a technique that provides better resolution
than photolithography.
 E-beam lithography is maskless and precisely control direct writing of patterns with
focused scanning e-beam under a high vacuum.
 The primary limitation of e-beam lithography is the higher cost associated with
expensive apparatus, low throughput and process time of e-beam lithography is
proportional to the area of exposure.

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 Lithography - Development
 Development is a process of removing part of the photoresist by a developing
solution or a spray developer.
 Post-baking:
• A post exposure bake (PEB) is often performed before development to amplify
chemical reactions within the photoresist.
• After development, hard baking is usually performed to strengthens the
photoresist structure and improves adhesion of the resist to the wafer surface
(120 – 180°C).
 Type of photoresist:
• Positive photoresist: pattern left on the wafer is a positive image of the
photomask (the exposed area will be removed).
• Negative photoresist: pattern is negative image (the unexposed area will be
removed).

Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)

 Etching
 Etching is a process that transfers a two-dimensional pattern onto a structural
layer underneath the top masking layer.

 Masking layer/material is a photoresist pattern or film which is resistant to the

etching process (silicon dioxide, silicon nitride and metal films).

 It is categorized into two types:

• Wet etching: patterning process that utilizes chemical solution (etchant) to cut
or “etch” metals.

Isotropic wet etching

Anisotropic wet etching

Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)

 Etching
 It is categorized into two types:
• Wet etching: patterning process that utilizes chemical solution (etchant) to cut
or “etch” film.
• Dry etching: (plasma etching) etching process that utilizes free radicals
produced by plasma which can be more precisely controlled by adjusting
parameters such as gas pressure, temperature, and electric field distribution
in a vacuum chamber to etch film.

• RIE: Removing atoms purely

by physical bombardment of
an inert gas such as Ar is (ion
milling or sputter etching).
• DRIEE: (etching + deposition)
Standard RIE process and
deposition of thin passivation
layer of a fluoride-based
Reactive-ion etching (RIE) utilizes combinations
substance. of isotropic chemical reactions and anisotropic or
directional physical bombardment of ions.
Sens. Actuators A Phys. 135 (2007) 34
Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)
 Lift-off
 Process of creating patterns by using an
inversely patterned sacrificial layer first
created on the substrate.
 Several requirements for sacrificial layer
material:
• Easily patterned
• Thick enough to have better separation
of patterns to be removed
• Desirable to have a “reverse tapered”
profile to cut the layer of target material
into the desired pattern
• Easily be removed without damaging
the desired pattern

Sens. Actuators A Phys. 135 (2007) 34

Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)
 Doping
 Doping is a method that intentionally introduces impurities called dopants into an
intrinsic semiconductor.
 Two doping methods:
• Thermal diffusion: Impurity atoms (dopants) is diffused into intrinsic
materials at high temperatures of 800 – 1000°C.
• Ion implantation: Dopant ions are implanted into solid by accelerating it in an
electrical field.

Dopant concentration

x=L=2√(Dt): depth
t: time
D: diffusion coefficient at a given temperature
φ0: dopant concentration on surface

Introduction to Microfabrication Diffusion at 1000°C for 100, 200 and 300 mins
Molecular Sensors and Nanodevices (Second Edition)
Activity

Considering the microfabrication processes,

design/structure a piezoelectric/thermoelectric
device and its fabrication steps.