AVS 53rd International Symposium
    MEMS and NEMS Tuesday Sessions
       Session MN-TuM

Paper MN-TuM12
Piezoelectric-Diamond Hybrid Heterostructures for High Performance MEMS/NEMS Devices

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 11:40 am, Room 2007

Session: Material Aspects of MEMS and NEMS
Presenter: A.V. Sumant, Argonne National Laboratory
Authors: S. Srinivasan, Argonne National Laboratory
J. Hiller, Argonne National Laboratory
O. Auciello, Argonne National Laboratory
A.V. Sumant, Argonne National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
Novel microelectromechanical and nanoelectromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS) devices, including sensors and actuators represent a technological revolution similar to the microelectronics revolution of the 20th Century. Development of these new generation multifunctional devices involves new materials, dissimilar materials integration strategies, and micro and nanofabrication processing techniques for optimum device performance. Most MEMS devices are currently based on silicon because of the available surface micromachining technology. However, the poor mechanical and tribological properties of Si are not suitable for high-performance Si-based MEMS devices. On the other hand, diamond as a super-hard material with exceptional mechanical and tribological properties exhibits tremendous potential for new generation of high-performance MEMS/NEMS devices. Among various forms of diamond, ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD), based on a novel thin film technology using argon plasma chemistry, exhibits superior mechanical properties compared with single crystal diamond, microcrystalline diamond (MCD), and nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) in terms of properties and adaptability for MEMS/NEMS applications. Piezoelectric-based MEMS attracts much attention due to their high sensitivity and low electrical noise in sensing applications and high-force output in actuation applications. Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 (PZT) thin films have stimulated intensive studies over the past decade due to its potential applications in a wide variety of devices, namely piezoelectrically actuated MEMS/NEMS devices. Therefore, the integration of functional PZT thin films with the UNCD films opens up the tantalizing possibility of advanced MEMS/NEMS devices. However, the integration of PZT and UNCD is challenging, mainly due to the PZT/UNCD interface. In this research, we explore such an integration to achieve high quality devices.