Technique for fabricating mems devices having diaphragms of ''floatting'' regions of single crystal material
AssigneeJBCR Innovations, LLP
InventorRichard A. Blanchard
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A single crystal semiconductor region is fabricated in a semiconductor wafer. The region is either cantilevered, supported at one or both ends, or midpoint, or supported at multiple locations. After a pattern and etch step, a dielectric fill step is performed to define the boundaries of the region in the semiconductor wafer. Oxygen or nitrogen is implanted in the semiconductor wafer on a surface area of the semiconductor wafer that corresponds to a top surface of the region. The annealing of the oxygen or nitrogen ions convert the silicon to an oxide or a nitride beneath the surface area. The silicon dioxide or silicon nitride is etched away to produce a semiconducting region of a single crystal material.
Claims40
A method for fabricating a semiconductor region having a single crystal structure that is supported at one or more locations, comprising the steps of:
- depositing and defining an etch stop layer on a first surface of a semiconductor wafer;
- creating a dielectric border to define the boundaries of a predetermined shape of the single crystal structure on the first surface of the epitaxial layer;
- applying a blocking layer to the first surface;
- masking the first surface according to the predetermined shape to create an implant area on the first surface;
- implanting ions into the implant area;
- annealing the semiconductor wafer to create a temporary region of dielectric in the semiconductor area beneath the implanted area;
- and
- removing both the dielectric border and the temporary region to achieve the predefined shape of the single crystal structure.
A method of fabricating an air bridge, comprising the steps of:
- depositing and defining an etch stop layer on a first surface of a semiconductor wafer;
- creating a dielectric border to define the boundaries of a predetermined shape of the single crystal structure on the first surface of the semiconductor wafer;
- applying a blocking layer to the first surface;
- masking the first surface according to the predetermined shape to create an implant area on the first surface;
- implanting ions into the implant area;
- annealing the semiconductor wafer to create a temporary region of dielectric in the first epitaxial area beneath the implanted area;
- removing both the dielectric border and the temporary region to achieve the predefined shape of the single crystal structure.
A method for fabricating a semiconductor region having a single crystal structure that is supported at one or more locations, comprising the steps of:
- depositing and defining an etch stop layer over an epitaxial layer on a first surface of a semiconductor wafer;
- creating a dielectric border to define the boundaries of a predetermined shape of the single crystal structure on the first surface of the epitaxial layer;
- applying a blocking layer to the first surface;
- masking the first surface according to a predetermined shape to create an implant area on the first surface;
- implanting ions into a implant area;
- annealing the semiconductor wafer to create a temporary region in the first epitaxial area beneath the implanted area;
- and
- removing both the dielectric border and the temporary region to achieve the predefined shape of the single crystal structure.
A method of fabricating an air bridge, comprising the steps of:
- depositing and defining an etch stop layer on a first surface of a single crystal semiconductor wafer;
- creating a dielectric border to define the boundaries of a predetermined shape of the single crystal structure on the first surface of the semiconductor wafer;
- applying a blocking layer to the first surface;
- masking the first surface according to the predetermined shape to create an implant area on the first surface;
- implanting ions into the implant area;
- annealing the semiconductor wafer to create a temporary region in the first area beneath the implanted area;
- removing both the dielectric border the temporary region to achieve the predefined shape of the single crystal structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.