This thesis provides analysis and modeling for one of the Micro-Eletro-Mechanical System (MEMS) electrostatic actuator that consists of a micro-plate at the end of a cantilever beam, and introduces different type of MEMS electrostatic actuator; a paddle structure, which is a micro-plate suspended by two cantilever beams on each side. An electrode plate is placed right under the micro-plate to apply an actuation voltage. A step-by-step analysis explains how to obtain each parameter used for the simulations. Static and dynamic models are presented with governing equations for the paddle-shaped MEMS electrostatic actuator. The key findings are that the proposed electrostatic MEMS demodulator architecture taking advantage of the resonance circuit principle not only theoretically work in analytical model, and numerical simulations, but also work in real life. For the Amplitude Modulations (AM) demodulations, simulations with various damping factors are provided, and experimental data are discussed. By measuring the displacement using the phase detector circuit and vibrometer, as a proof of versatility of the demodulation architecture based on the MEMS electrostatic actuator, the results from Frequency Modulations (FM), Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), and Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) demodulation scheme experiments that are conducted with the physically identical dimensions and configuration are provided. The future plan for further analysis and experiment is discussed at the end.

Aquest treball descriu el desenvolupament d'un sistema Smart Sensor per a acceleròmetres piezoresistius emprant la tecnologia de mòduls multixip de tipus D (MCM-D). En el camp dels Smarts Sensors existeixen dues aproximacions bàsiques: l'aproximació monolítica que integra el sensor i els circuits en el mateix xip, i la versió multixip, que integra de forma híbrida tant el sensor com els circuits, fabricats per separat. Les dues tecnologies emprades en aquest treball han estat, la dels acceleròmetres piezoresistius en oblies BESOI i la dels mòduls multixip, silici sobre silici, mitjançant la tècnica de muntatge flip-chip. Aquesta tècnica proporciona a l'encapsulat de sensors nivell d'integració més elevat, a la vegada que redueix els problemes termo-mecànics pel fet d'emprar un substrat de silici.En aquest estudi s'ha treballat en el desenvolupament d'aquest Smart Sensor per tal, principalment, d'aconseguir un encapsulat robust i lliure d'estrès. En aquest sentit, s'ha dut a terme el disseny d'una cavitat hermètica per a la protecció de les parts mòbils de l'acceleròmetre. L'hermeticitat s'obté mitjançant la pasta de soldadura que s'aplica en el mateix moment en que es fan les connexions elèctriques o solder bumps. Aquest fet ha requerit d'una modificació en la tecnologia de pads del sensor. Per altra banda, s'han dut a terme una sèrie de simulacions per elements finits per tal d'avaluar en les etapes de disseny l'estrès que podia aportar l'encapsulat a aquests dispositius sensibles a esforços mecànics. Els resultats de les simulacions demostren que si bé es dóna un cert grau d'estrès, aquest no arriba a perjudicar el comportament del sensor.Les caracteritzacions tant elèctriques com mecàniques realitzades a l'encapsulat multixip, demostren que aquest encapsulat no modifica els paràmetres elèctrics més importants, com ara la sensibilitat o la tensió d'offset. La caracterització dinàmica demostra, però, que l'encapsulat multixip afegeix un més elevat grau d'esmorteïment modificant així la resposta del sensor. Aquesta variació es tradueix en una disminució de la freqüència de ressonància i del guany del sensor a aquesta freqüència. Aquest fet, en aplicacions DC, és una característica apreciada doncs evita una eventual ruptura del sensor. / This work describes the development of a Smart Sensor system for piezoresistive accelerometers using Multi Chip Module type D (MCM-D) technology. There are two main approaches in the Smart Sensors field: The monolithic integration of the process circuitry with the sensor itself in the same chip, and the multichip approach, where both parts are independently fabricated and connected using hybrid integration. Two technologies have been used in the present work: CNM's piezoresistive accelerometers technology based on BESOI wafers and silicon-on-silicon multichip module technology, based on the flip-chip interconnection. This technique provides higher levels of integration for the packaging of sensors. In addition, the inclusion of a silicon substrate reduces thermo-mechanical problems.The development of the Smart Sensor has been mainly oriented to obtain a robust and unstressed package. In this sense, mobile parts of the accelerometer have been protected with an specifically designed hermetic cavity. This cavity is built using solder paste, and is defined simultaneously with the electrical connections or solder bumps. This point required modifications of the sensor's pad technology. Furthermore, finite element simulations have been performed in order to evaluate the package induced stresses on the sensor, which is extremely sensitive to mechanical efforts. The simulation results showed that even if small stress appear, they don't adversely affect the behaviour of the sensor. Electrical and mechanical characterisation of the multichip Smart Sensor, showed that the packaging process doesn't modify the main electrical parameters, such as sensitivity and off-set voltage. Vibration tests showed that multichip package increases mechanical damping, modifying the dynamic response of the sensor. In this sense, the resonance frequency and the gain of the sensor at this frequency decrease. This behaviour is useful for DC applications, preventing the failure of the sensor.

Estructures ressonants en forma de biga (p.e. ponts o palanques) són molt interessants com a element transductor en sensors físics, químics i biològics basats en sistemes micro-/nanoelectromecànics (M-/NEMS) degut a la seva simplicitat, al gran rang de dominis que poden sensar, i a la seva extremada alta sensibilitat. Aquesta tesis està focalitzada en el disseny, fabricació i caracterització de CMOS-MEMS monolítics basats en bigues ressonants a escala sub-micromètrica per a la seva utilització en la detecció ultra sensible de massa amb un dispositiu portable. Els ressonadors operen en mode dinàmic on la massa es mesurada com un canvi de la seva freqüència de ressonància que és induïda electrostàticament i llegida d'una forma capacitiva mitjançant un circuit CMOS integrat monolíticament. Dues aproximacions tecnològiques diferents són considerades per tal de fabricar bigues ressonants a escala sub-micromètrica sobre xips CMOS prèviament processats, possibilitant una integració monolítica: (i) post processant els xips CMOS amb tècniques de nano fabricació per obtenir les estructures ressonants o (ii) definint els ressonadors al mateix temps que els circuits CMOS. Per les dues aproximacions, es presenten dispositius de metall i de polysilici amb sensibilitats de massa sense precedents (per a sensors CMOS monolítics) dins el rang dels atto-/zeptograms. Es presenta una comparativa dels resultats aconseguits mitjançant les dues aproximacions tecnològiques.Es dissenyen circuits de lectura CMOS d'alta sensibilitat per amplificar el corrent capacitiu amb guanys de transimpedància (utilitzant una tecnologia comercial CMOS 0.35-μm) de fins a 120 dBΩ a 10 MHz possibilitant la detecció del desplaçament del ressonador amb resolucions de fins a ~10 fm/√Hz semblants a les obtingudes pels millors sistemes de detecció òptics reportats i sense la necessitat d'un equipament complexa. Es presenta la caracterització elèctrica, a l'aire i al buit, de dispositius CMOS-MEMS fabricats que corroboren la capacitat de l'aproximació monolítica presentada per mesurar la característica freqüencial de ressonadors a escala sub-micromètrica. S'aconsegueix una transducció electrostàtica òptima i es mesuren respostes freqüencials elèctriques amb pics elevats (fins a 20 dB o més) i grans canvis de fase (fins a 160º) al voltant de la freqüència de ressonància. També es reporten mesures on s'observen efectes de softening/harderning de la constant de molla i d'histèresis produïts per les no linealitats així com la detecció del moviment Brownià intrínsec demostrant el bon matching de soroll entre el ressonador i el circuit de lectura. També es presenten els resultats de calibració, de mesures en temps real, i d'anàlisi de la resolució dels dispositius fabricats obtenint valors de fins a ~30 zg/√Hz (equivalent a ~6 pg/cm2√Hz) en condicions de buit que indiquen la millora respecte a treballs anteriors en termes de sensibilitat, resolució i procés de fabricació.Es presenta i es testeja un circuit oscil·lador Pierce CMOS adaptat per a treballar amb ressonadors de ~10 MHz i amb resistències mecàniques equivalents de fins a 100 MΩ demostrant que és factible la detecció d'attograms amb un dispositiu sensor completament portable. / Resonant beams structures are very attractive transducers for physical, chemical and biological sensors based on micro-/nanoelectromechanical systems (M-/NEMS) due to its simplicity, wide range of sensing domains, and extremely high sensitivity. This Ph.D. thesis is focused on the design, fabrication and characterization of monolithic CMOS-MEMS based on sub-micrometer scale resonant beams for its application in ultrasensitive mass detection with a portable device. The resonators operate in dynamic mode where the mass is measured as a change of its resonant frequency which is electrostatically induced and capacitive readout by means of a monolithically integrated CMOS circuitry. Two different technological approaches are considered to fabricate sub-micrometer scale resonant beams on pre-processed CMOS chips allowing a monolithic integration: (i) nano post-processing of the CMOS chip to obtain the resonant beams or (ii) definition of the resonant beams at the same time that the CMOS circuits. From both approaches, metal and polysilicon devices exhibiting unprecedented mass sensitivities (for monolithic CMOS sensors) in the atto-/zeptogram range are reported. Comparison of the results following both approaches is given.High-sensitivity readout CMOS circuits are specifically designed to amplify the capacitive current with transimpedance gains (using a commercial 0.35-μm CMOS technology) up to 120 dBΩ at 10 MHz allowing to detect the resonator displacement with resolutions up to ~10 fm/√Hz which are similar than the best reported optical readout systems without the need of a bulky setup.Electrical characterization, in air and in vacuum conditions, of fabricated CMOS-MEMS devices is presented corroborating the ability of the presented monolithic approach in measuring the frequency characteristics of sub-micrometer scale beam resonators. Optimal electrostatic transduction is achieved measuring electrical frequency responses with high peaks (up to 20 dB or more) and large phase shifts (up to 160º) around the resonance frequency. Measurements showing soft/hard-spring effect and hysteretic performance due to nonlinearities are also reported as well as the detection of intrinsic Brownian motion demonstrating the noise-matching between the resonator and the readout circuit. Results from calibration, real time mass measurements, and resolution analysis on fabricated devices obtaining values down to ~30 zg/√Hz (equivalent to ~6 pg/cm2√Hz) in vacuum conditions are also reported indicating the improvement from previous works in terms of sensitivity, resolution, and fabrication process.A specific CMOS Pierce oscillator circuit adapted to work with ~10 MHz beam resonators showing motional resistance up to 100 MΩ is presented and tested demonstrating the feasible attogram detection with a completely portable sensor device.

Due to the potential uses and advantages of 3D microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), research has been ongoing to advance the field. The intention of my reasearch is to explore different gripper designs and their interaction with corresponding components to establish a 3D microassembly system. In order to meet these goals, two grippers were designed using different mechanisms for grasping. At the same time, corresponding parts capable of being constructed into a 3D microstructure were designed to interact with the grippers. The microcomponents were fabricated using PolyMUMPS, a part of the Multi-User MEMS Processes (MUMPS), and experimentation was conducted with the goal of constructing a 3D microstructure. The results were partially successful in that both grippers were able to pick up corresonponding parts and bring them out of plane in order to make them stand up. However, a final 3D microstructure was unfortunately not achieved due to time constraints. This will be left to future researchers who continue the project. On the equpiment side a microassembly system was fully integrated using cameras for vision and motors with micro-resolution for movement. A computer program was used to control each part of the system. The cameras provided feedback from various views, allowing the operator to observe what was happening to the microcomponents. The grippers were attached to one of the motors and manipulated to pick up the parts. The final overall system proved sufficient for microassembly, but had some areas that could be improved upon.

<p>Couplers are one of the most frequently used passive devices in microwave circuitry. The main function of a coupler is to divide (or combine) a radio frequency signal into (from) two separate signals by a specific ratio and phase difference. With the need for smaller electronic devices, a reduction in the area of a distributed coupler would prove to be valuable. The purpose of this research is to develop, simulate, fabricate and test high aspect ratio microstructure couplers that are smaller in area than existing distributed couplers, and have comparable or better performance. One method used to reduce the area of a distributed coupler is to replace single or multiple transmission lines with lumped element equivalent circuits. One category of lumped elements that has not been extensively implemented is high aspect ratio lumped elements. High aspect ratio lumped elements fabricated with deep X-ray lithography are able to take advantage of using the vertical dimension, and reduce their planar area. In this thesis high aspect ratio lumped elements are used in the design of 3-dB microstructure couplers that show significant area reduction compared to equivalent distributed couplers.</p> <p>The designs of the microstructure couplers were based on the lumped element equivalent circuits of a 3-dB branch-line and a 3-dB rat-race distributed coupler. Simulations were performed to determine the lumped element values that would provide the largest 3-dB bandwidth while still maintaining close to ideal coupling and through values, return loss bandwidth, isolation bandwidth, and phase. These lumped element values were then implemented in the microstructure coupler designs as high aspect ratio microstructure lumped elements. 3-D electromagnetic simulations were performed which verified that the structures behaved electrically as couplers. The microstructure couplers were designed to be 220 &#x00B5;m tall nickel structures with capacitance gap widths of 6 µm.</p> <p>Fabrication of the microstructure couplers using deep X-ray lithography was performed by the microfabrication group at IMT/KIT in Karlsruhe, Germany. Before testing, detailed visual inspection and the etching of the structures was performed at the Canadian Light Source.</p> <p>A total of five microstructure couplers were tested. Four of the tested couplers were based on the 3-dB branch-line coupler, and the fifth coupler was based on the 3-dB rat-race coupler. The microstructure branch-line design that had the best overall results was fabricated on quartz glass substrate and had an operation frequency of 5.3 GHz. The 3-dB bandwidth of the coupler was measured to be better than 75.5% and extrapolated to be 95.0%. At the centre frequency the through and coupled values were -4.32 dB and -4.44 dB. The phase difference between the couplers output ports was designed to be 90.0° and was measured to be 95.8°. The ±5° phase bandwidth was measured to be 12.7% and the isolation bandwidth was 28.8%. The measured results from the other couplers were comparable to simulation results.</p> <p>The main advantage of the microstructure coupler designs over existing distributed couplers is that the microstructure couplers show a significant area reduction. The branch-line microstructure designs were at least 85% smaller in area than their distributed equivalent on quartz glass. The rat-race microstructure design showed an area reduction of 90% when compared to its distributed equivalent on quartz glass.</p>

Due to the potential uses and advantages of 3D microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), research has been ongoing to advance the field. The intention of my reasearch is to explore different gripper designs and their interaction with corresponding components to establish a 3D microassembly system. In order to meet these goals, two grippers were designed using different mechanisms for grasping. At the same time, corresponding parts capable of being constructed into a 3D microstructure were designed to interact with the grippers. The microcomponents were fabricated using PolyMUMPS, a part of the Multi-User MEMS Processes (MUMPS), and experimentation was conducted with the goal of constructing a 3D microstructure. The results were partially successful in that both grippers were able to pick up corresonponding parts and bring them out of plane in order to make them stand up. However, a final 3D microstructure was unfortunately not achieved due to time constraints. This will be left to future researchers who continue the project. On the equpiment side a microassembly system was fully integrated using cameras for vision and motors with micro-resolution for movement. A computer program was used to control each part of the system. The cameras provided feedback from various views, allowing the operator to observe what was happening to the microcomponents. The grippers were attached to one of the motors and manipulated to pick up the parts. The final overall system proved sufficient for microassembly, but had some areas that could be improved upon.

Micromechanical resonators are used in a variety of sensing and filtering applications. In these applications, the accurate performance of micro resonators depends on the sensitivity of these devices to a particular resonance frequency. This sensitivity is measured using the quality factor Q, which is the ratio of the total input energy into the device to the energy dissipated within a vibration cycle. A higher quality factor indicates a smaller resonance bandwidth, which makes the micro-resonator more effective in identifying a desired signal. Higher Q values result from reductions in dissipation losses. Dissipation losses occur through damping by the ambient fluid, anchor losses, thermoelastic damping, and other sources. The squeeze-film effect is of particular interest in micro-resonators as the fluid enclosed between the resonating components can provide significant dissipation. This work covers investigations into the air damping of oscillating micromachined resonators that operate near a fixed wall, which is parallel to the oscillating surface. The main portion of this work focuses on the theoretical and numerical investigation of the air damping of micromachined resonators when the surrounding gas (air) is in the Free-Molecule regime. Errors and limitations of previous theoretical models have been found and corrected. A molecular dynamics simulation code that is suitable to handle a more general class of resonators has been developed. This code has been used to find the quality factor of a microbeam resonator. The results from the code were compared to existing experimental results, and were found to have very good agreement in the free molecular regime. The simulation was then used to investigate the effects of the oscillation mechanics on the energy dissipation and quality factor. The second part of this work focuses on the region between the bottom surface of a laterally-oscillating disk resonator and the substrate. The compressibility effects of a 1 micron thick film of air on a laterally-oscillating disk resonator were investigated. The pressure perturbation for this case was found to be minimal, which means that the compressibility effects of the fluid film will negligible.

This thesis discusses the investigation and development of design methodologies for the creation of multifunctional band-pass filters capable of tuning to different frequency bands as well as varying their fractional bandwidth. This research also studies polynomial synthesis procedures as a tool for the derivation of reconfigurable planar filters with advanced asymmetrical responses. The work presented here relates to the evolving multifunction philosophy of RF systems. This analysis presents a comprehensive study of microwave resonators, which generate reliable and scalable filter topologies with tunable properties. The study includes the analysis of single, dual and triple-mode filters together with an investigation of the coupling behavior of synchronously and asynchronously tuned resonators. This study identified the main properties responsible for frequency and bandwidth control in a filter, and consequently systematically created innovative design techniques. The research also deals with the development of synthesis procedures for filters with advanced asymmetrical responses. The main goal of this effort is the creation of planar reconfigurable filters with arbitrary assigned transmission zeros. These advanced realizations requite meeting complex design specifications of advanced systems in both commercial and military applications. This work involves an in-depth investigation of polynomial synthesis methods for filters with crossed-coupled resonators and fully canonical form realizations using topologies with source and load coupling.

For this thesis, the use of Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) as a system-level substrate and packaging material is investigated. Early in the research, recipes for fabricating on LCP were developed. With this knowledge, RF components were able to be fabricated. These devices include filters, antennas, phase shifters, and RF MEMS switches. To investigate the potential of using LCP as a system-level material, packaging properties and robustness were tested. This research demonstrated that LCP could be used to package something as small and delicate as an individual switch or as large as a 4-inch wafer. In addition, it was shown that MEMS switches could survive well over a hundred million cycles. This demonstrated that LCP could be used to create reliable, high performance systems. The culmination of this research was used to create two variations of a communication module. The first device was fabricated on one layer and a multi-layer approach was taken for the other device. These modules needed to be low-cost, low-loss, flexible, and capable of beam steering. This technology can be used for communication, sensing, detection, and surveillance for a broad scope of applications. To this date, they are by far the most sophisticated SOP on LCP ever achieved. This technology can be further developed to include more functionality, smaller size, and even better performance.

This thesis presents three kinds of novel structural design of SDA-based micromotors(£g-motors), including out-side cover structure, flange cover structure and flange rib structure. In order to verify the feasibility of these structures, the device is fabricated by MUMPs micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) foundry. According to the experimental results, SDA £g-motor of flange cover structure is comparatively more ideal than the other structures. The ideal structure operates at 100 Hz when the voltage is added to 75 Vop, which results in resonant vibration on the SDA plate, and begins to rotate when the voltage reaches 100 Vop. The secondary goal of this thesis is using SDA £g-motor of flange cover structure to build surface micromachining process integration. The fabrication processes include eight photolithography masks, and the total fabrication procedure takes 62 steps. According to the experimental result, the device is made and succeeded or not, except that receiving the alignment technology influences, etching phosphorus silicon glass to define anchor is also an important process. Though processing technology of SDA £g-motor researched and developed by Taiwan has not reached high yield yet, but intact process module develop and integration has already appeared specifically through the research of this thesis.