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Photodefinable Metal Oxide Dielectrics II: Direct Fabrication of Patterned High-k Dielectrics for Low Cost RF Capacitive MEMS Switches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Michael Romeo ,
Isaac Finger ,
Augustin Jeyakumar ,
Guoan Wang ,
John Papapolymerou  and
Clifford L. Henderson
Michael Romeo
Affiliation:
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332–0100
Isaac Finger
Affiliation:
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332–0100
Augustin Jeyakumar
Affiliation:
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332–0100
Guoan Wang
Affiliation:
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 777 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332–0250
John Papapolymerou
Affiliation:
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 777 Atlantic Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332–0250
Clifford L. Henderson*
Affiliation:
School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332–0100
*
* Corresponding Author: E-mail: [email protected], Phone: (404)-385–0525
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Abstract

In this paper, recent advancements related to a novel approach for fabricating low cost capacitive radio frequency microelectromechanical (RF MEMS) switches using directly photodefinable high dielectric constant metal oxides are discussed. In this approach, a radiation sensitive metal-organic precursor is deposited via spin coating and converted patternwise to a metal oxide using exposure to ultraviolet light. The feasibility of this approach has previously been demonstrated by fabricating bridge-type and cantilever-type RF MEMS switches. These early experiments showed that the photopatterned oxides displayed dielectric breakdown strengths that were insufficient for reliable operation of MEMS switches which required actuation voltages on the order of 20 V to 30 V. Recent work has focused on developing advanced processes based on the photodefinable metal-organic approach that can produce oxides with higher dielectric breakdown strengths and higher dielectric constants. A variety of post-patterning processes, including thermal baking and oxygen plasma annealing, were investigated and the impact of such processing on the resulting dielectric properties are discussed in this paper. It is shown that a combination of thermal annealing and oxygen plasma treatment can substantially improve the dielectric breakdown strength of the metal oxides produced using the photosensitive metal-organic process.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 833: Symposium G – Materials, Integration, and Packaging Issues for High-Frequency Devices II , 2004 , G6.3
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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References

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