| AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| MEMS and NEMS | Monday Sessions |
| Session MN+AS+SS-MoM |
| Session: | Fabrication and Multi-scale Interactions of Materials, Surfaces, and Interfaces at the Micro- and Nano-scale |
| Presenter: | L. Engel, Tel Aviv University, Israel |
| Authors: | L. Engel, Tel Aviv University, Israel S. Kruk, Tel Aviv University, Israel J. Shklovsky, Tel Aviv University, Israel Y. Shacham-Diamand, Tel Aviv University, Israel S. Krylov, Tel Aviv University, Israel |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The rapidly developing field of polymeric electronic and microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices has attracted much attention in recent years. Applications of polymeric MEMS devices include thin film transistors, waveguides for optical sensors, stretchable electronics as well as electroactive polymers (EAP) and dielectric elastomers actuators (DEAs). Polymeric actuators are distinguished by their very low fabrication cost, are often biocompatible, demonstrate large strain under small forces, and exhibit fast response times with relatively large actuation forces and high efficiency. The present work focuses on the integration of the recently developed relaxor ferroelectric polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene)(P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)) with MEMS/NEMS. The high electrostrictive strains, low hysteresis, and high dielectric constant exhibited by this polymer make it particularly attractive for device fabrication, however, these properties depend strongly on the dielectric nature of the polymer. Because of the coupling between P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)’s mechanical behavior and electrical properties, it is critical to device design that we fully understand its dielectric behavior in a MEMS capacity.
We report on the patterning and electrical characterization of a terpolymer of composition VF2 : 61.3% /VF3 : 29.7%/CFE : 9% at the micron scale. Through the use of micro-capacitor test structures, we explored the dielectric constant of the P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) as a function of temperature, frequency, and different processing conditions. The morphology of the semi-crystalline polymer under different microprocessing techniques was examined using AFM and XRD, providing a correlation between the material properties and electrical behavior of the polymer. At ~57, the dielectric constant at room temperature of this terpolymer is an order of magnitude higher than is typical for polymers, making P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) attractive for MEMS and in particular, organic electronic type sensors.
Acknowledgements
This project was supported by Arkema/Piezotech. P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) materials were supplied by Piezotech S.A.S