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Suppression of Stiction in MEMS

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Abstract

Stiction failures in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) occur when suspended elastic members are unexpectedly pinned to their substrates. This type of device failure develops both in fabrication and during device operation, being a dominant source of yield loss in MEMS. Stiction failures require first a collapse force that brings the elastic member contact with the substrate followed by an intersolid adhesion sufficiently large to overcome the elastic restoring force. Stiction failure mechanisms have been studied extensively elsewhere [1]. This paper briefly summarizes these mechanisms in a the practical way. Over the last decade, stiction failure rates in MEMS have been minimized using a wide variety of processing, surface treatment, and physical schemes. An update of these methods is provided.

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  1. Center for Integrated Microsystems Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2122, USA

    C. H. Mastrangelo

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Mastrangelo, C.H. Suppression of Stiction in MEMS. MRS Online Proceedings Library 605, 105–116 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-605-105

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