Design, fabrication, characterization and reliability study of CMOS-MEMS Lorentz-force magnetometers
Valle, Juan (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Sánchez-Chiva, Josep Maria (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
Fernández Martínez, Daniel (Institut de Física d'Altes Energies)
Madrenas, Jordi (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)

Date:	2022
Abstract:	This article presents several design techniques to fabricate micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) using standard complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. They were applied to fabricate high yield CMOS-MEMS shielded Lorentz-force magnetometers (LFM). The multilayered metals and oxides of the back-end-of-line (BEOL), normally used for electronic routing, comprise the structural part of the MEMS. The most important fabrication challenges, modeling approaches and design solutions are discussed. Equations that predict the Q factor, sensitivity, Brownian noise and resonant frequency as a function of temperature, gas pressure and design parameters are presented and validated in characterization tests. A number of the fabricated magnetometers were packaged into Quad Flat No-leads (QFN) packages. We show this process can achieve yields above 95 % when the proper design techniques are adopted. Despite CMOS not being a process for MEMS manufacturing, estimated performance (sensitivity and noise level) is similar or superior to current commercial magnetometers and others built with MEMS processes. Additionally, typical offsets present in Lorentz-force magnetometers were prevented with a shielding electrode, whose efficiency is quantified. Finally, several reliability test results are presented, which demonstrate the robustness against high temperatures, magnetic fields and acceleration shocks.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación RTI2018-099766-B-I00
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Electrical and electronic engineering ; Sensors ; Structural properties
Published in:	Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Vol. 8 (2022) , art. 103, ISSN 2055-7434

DOI: 10.1038/s41378-022-00423-w
PMID: 36124080

25 p, 4.7 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles