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Micro Electro Mechanical Systems pp 237–302Cite as

Online Test Microstructures of the Thermophysical Properties of MEMS Conducting Films

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Part of the book series: Micro/Nano Technologies ((MNT))

Abstract

Thermophysical properties of MEMS materials, such as thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), are one of the most important properties in MEMS technology. Steady-state thermal response and transient-state thermal response of MEMS devices depend on the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusivity of device materials. Thermally driven microstructures, on the other hand, exploit the thermal expansion effect for their operation. It is necessary to characterize the thermophysical properties of MEMS materials for the design of MEMS devices.

This chapter will present online test microstructures and measurement methods for the thermophysical properties of MEMS conducting beams. The background of the work is reviewed in section “Introduction.” In section “Online Test Microstructure of Thermal Conductivity,” test microstructures for thermal conductivity based on steady-state thermal analysis are developed. Section “Online Test Microstructure of Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity” is dedicated to discussing transient-state thermal analysis and proposing a test microstructure for both thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity. In sections “Online Test Microstructure of the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion by Rotating Technique” and “Online Test Microstructure of the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion by a Pull-In Approach,” the coefficient of thermal expansion is extracted by micro-rotating structures and double-clamped beams, respectively. The former takes advantage of thermal actuation, while the latter makes use of the electrostatic pull-in approach. All the test microstructures proposed in sections. “Online Test Microstructure of Thermal Conductivity,” “Online Test Microstructure of Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Diffusivity” and “Online Test Microstructure of the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion by Rotating Technique” are stimulated electrically and measured electrically. They can find applications in MEMS fabrication process line to provide direct quality control and obtain the data needed by MEMS designers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Hai-Yun Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of MEMS of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Zai-Fa Zhou & Qing-An Huang

Authors
  1. Hai-Yun Liu
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  2. Zai-Fa Zhou
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  3. Qing-An Huang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hai-Yun Liu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of MEMS of the Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Qing-An Huang

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Liu, HY., Zhou, ZF., Huang, QA. (2018). Online Test Microstructures of the Thermophysical Properties of MEMS Conducting Films. In: Huang, QA. (eds) Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. Micro/Nano Technologies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5945-2_6

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