EE C245 INTRODUCTION TO MEMS DESIGN FALL 2007 COURSE INFORMATION Instructor: Professor Clark Nguyen, 574 Cory Hall, Tel: (510)642-6251 e-mail address: [email protected] Office Hours: Tu 1:30-3 p.m., Th 3-4:30 p.m. (to be modified in case of conflicts) Teaching Assistant: TBD Lecture: Tuesday, Thursday 9:30-11:00 a.m. in 106 Moffitt (but to be changed very soon … we hope) Discussion: Friday, 3-4 p.m. in 299 Cory (which will need to change) Office Hours: Office hours are the primary mechanism for individual contact with Professor Nguyen. All students are strongly encouraged to make use of office hours. Course Description: In its most common definition, the field of microelectromechanical systems (or MEMS) encom-passes tiny (generally chip-scale) devices or systems capable of realizing functions not easily achiev-able via transistor devices alone. Among the useful functions realized via MEMS are: 1) Sensing of various parameters that include inertial variables, such as acceleration and rotation rate; other physical variables, such as pressure and temperature; chemicals, often gaseous or liquids; biological species, such as DNA or cells; and a myriad of other sensing modes, e.g., radiation. 2) Control of physical variables, such as the direction of light (e.g., laser light), the direction of radi-ated energy, the flow of fluids, the frequency content of signals, etc. … 3) Generation and/or delivery of useful physical quantities, such as ultra-stable frequencies, power, ink, and drug doses, among many others. Although useful, the above definition and functional list fall short of describing some of more funda-mentally important aspects of MEMS that allows this field to accomplish incredible things. In par-ticular, MEMS design and technology fundamentally offer the benefits of scaling in physical domains beyond the electrical domain, to additionally include the mechanical, chemical, and biological domains. We are all well aware of the benefits of scaling when applied to integrated circuits. Specifically, via continued scaling of dimensions over the years, integrated circuit transistor technology has brought about transistor-based circuits with faster speed, lower power consumption, and larger functional complexity than ever before. All of these benefits have come about largely through sheer dimensional scaling. By scaling the features of devices that operate in other physical domains (e.g., mechanical), MEMS technology offers the same scaling benefits of 1) Faster speed, as manifested by higher mechanical resonance frequencies, faster thermal time con-stants, etc., as dimensions are scaled.EE C245 INTRODUCTION TO MEMS DESIGN FALL 2007 2) Lower power or energy consumption, as manifested by the smaller forces required to move tiny mechanical elements, or the smaller thermal capacities and higher thermal isolations achievable that lead to much smaller power consumptions required to maintain certain temperatures. 3) Higher functional complexity, in that integrated circuits of mechanical links and resonators, fluidic channels and mixers, movable mirrors and gratings, etc., now become feasible with MEMS tech-nology. Unfortunately, although scaling does bring about significant benefits, it can also introduce penalties. For example, although miniaturization of accelerometers lowers cost and greatly enhances their g-force survivability, it also often results in reduced resolution—a drawback that must be alleviated via proper design strategy. This course will examine the pros and cons of scaling via MEMS technology, with a specific focus on the physical principles, tools, and methodologies needed to properly model MEMS devices and concepts to the point of being able to identify methods for maximizing the advantages while suppressing any drawbacks. There will be two hour-and-a-half lectures and a one-hour discussion session per week. The lec-tures will be supplemented by reading assignments (indicated on the COURSE SYLLABUS), addi-tional reading material to be distributed throughout the course, problem sets (at the rate of one per week, occasionally per two weeks), one midterm exam, a project, and a final exam. Although the material covered in the lectures and in the reading is fundamentally the same, the perspectives differ, and you are all strongly encouraged to both attend the lecture and complete your reading assignments. Furthermore, there will be occasional announcements in lectures that will affect your problem sets and exams. Lectures and discussion, 4 units. Prerequisites: Graduate standing in engineering or science; undergraduates with consent of instructor. Note that the prerequisite requirement (or apparent lack of one) for this course reflects the fact that the course itself is meant to serve all engineering departments. This is not to say that no prior knowl-edge is required for this course; rather, it is more a statement that if you lack the necessary background knowledge, you will need to study and learn the material somewhat independently. In particular, al-though some of the background material will be covered in lecture, there is simply not enough time to do a thorough job of it. Thus, those less familiar with the material will need to turn to supplementary materials, such as the reference texts. Note that this course will rely on concepts from numerous disciplines, from electrical engineering, to mechanical engineering, to materials science, to bioengineering. Thus, it is likely that nearly eve-ryone will need to struggle with unfamiliar material at some point in the course. Texts: Required: S. Senturia, Microsystem Design, 2nd Printing Various material to be distributed throughout the course. Supplementary: G. Kovacs, Micromachined Transducers Sourcebook Jaeger, Introduction to Microelectronic Fabrication (Vol. V of the Modular Series on Solid State Devices), 2nd Edition References: (on reserve) C. Liu, Foundations of MEMSEE C245 INTRODUCTION TO MEMS DESIGN FALL 2007 N. Maluf, An Introduction to Microelectromechanical Systems Engineering J. Pelesko & D. Bernstein, Modeling MEMS and NEMS Reading Assignments: Reading assignments include sections of the required textbook, distributed readings, and supple-mentary notes handed out in lecture. Reading assignments are indicated in the COURSE SYLLABUS and will also be included in problem assignments where appropriate. Supplementary notes will be handed out for topics where lecture
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