Design, Simulation and Optimization of

Micro-Electromechanical Systems using

COMSOL Multiphysics
Tithi Desai
M.Tech Digital Electronics and Advanced Communication
Manipal University Dubai
UAE

Dr. Ravishankar Dudhe

Program Coordinator and Associate Professor
School Of Engineering and IT
Manipal University -Dubai
UAE

ABSTRACT: As technology is growing rapidly, micro-scale devices are playing a vital role in the
electronic, mechanical and other application areas due to their integrability with CMOS IC technology,
low power consumption, low fabrication cost, and large quality factor. In fabrication process, the thin
film structures undergo thermal stress due to change in temperature during the process. Residual stress
in thin films causes a change in the resonant frequencies for cantilever beams. Array-based approach is
shown in the paper where we have simulated using multi-cantilever sensor beams instead of a single
array cantilever. This paper discusses the application of Multiphysics tool using orthogonal array for
finding the resonant frequency vibrations due to thermal stress incurring during the surface
micromachining process of fabrication and how array-size variations can affect the resonance.

1. INTRODUCTION
A MEMS technology enabling the batch fabrication of miniaturized mechanical structures,
devices, and systems has been originated from the Integrated Circuit (IC) technology. But it has
now established enough of its own unique characteristics due to its diverse applications and
distinctive natures of its market. Though MEMS technology had started from the silicon planar
technology or more specifically from the silicon based sensor technology of the 1960s, noticeable
advances in the technology and development of infrastructure has occurred in the 1990s. In
particular, the key application areas to give the greatest impact will be micro displays using micro
mirror arrays, mass/nano storage including hard disk drives/optical drives, RF/optical switching
products, and sensing products such as accelerometers and IR/pressure sensors. [1]

The market for wireless communication devices has expanded so dramatically in the past two
decades that the focus of research has shifted to consumer applications, from the more traditional
defense related applications. These developments paved the way for increased application of
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) in many current and future radio frequency (RF),
microwave and millimeter wave systems. Such devices are termed as RF MEMS, although it
comprises all devices whether they are operated micromechanically or fabricated by
micromachining or both [2]

In my project, I will be discussing microelectromechanical devices and their applications in

various fields. COMSOL Multiphysics has been used to simulate the already existing BAW
resonator model and the thin-film residual stress actuator. Various parameters have been varied
and optimization techniques are used like Taguchis orthogonal array method. The optimum values
of the parameters are determined and these can be used for the fabrication purpose in order to
reduce cost, time and power.

1. LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 BULK ACOUSTIC WAVE FILTERS

Recent development of wireless communication technology demands the miniaturized on-chip

RF filters with high performance characteristics, small volume, and light weight. However, the
conventional methods using lumped elements, dielectric resonators, or surface acoustic wave
resonators have serious difficulties in fabrication and integration with other electronics. A thin
film bulk acoustic resonator (TFBAR) is a promising candidate for fabricating integrated RF
filters, RF duplexers, and voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs), because the FBAR can be easily
scaled down and integrated with other electronics. Also it has a higher quality factor and better
power handling characteristics compared to the SAWs, especially at high frequencies where the
pitch of the interdigitated structures must be reduced.
RF MEMS filters such as Bulk Acoustic Wave filters (BAW) are determined to replace the
conventional RF filters in mobile communication as they have demonstrated high performance
and size advantages and can be manufactured at very low costs. The number of RF filters used
range from 3-7 which results in a world market of about 2 billion pieces per year. SAW-filters
suffer from principle limitations in performance, maximum frequency, robustness, modest power
handling & sensitivity and they do not offer options for much further shrinkage or monolithic
integration into silicon processes.
BAW filters serve these mobile applications very well for frequency hands above 800 MHz
because they offer excellent Q-values up to 1500, they can handle power levels up to several
Watts and the temperature coefficient of frequency is significantly lower than in SAW filters.
The mechanical respectively acoustical function in a RF-filter is essential because low
insertion loss and steep filter skirts translate into quality factors Q > 400 for the reactance
elements. There is no known method to make lumped element LC filters fulfilling typical
requirements as inductors do not even come close to these Q-values at 1 GHz. A real
breakthrough in performance requires Q>1000. [3]

2
Structural details OF BAW resonator

Bulk acoustic wave promises frequency in GHz range when integrated with RF circuits along with
small size resonator and filters [4-8][9][10]. The resonator is of thin film [4], [6], [10] type in
which the substrate is etched away on the back side. The natural frequency of the material and the
thickness are used as design parameters to obtain the desired operating frequency. It is modelled
by sandwiching a piezoelectric layer in between two electrodes as shown in Figure 5. A thick
silicon layer is etched as the bottom layer and a potential drop is applied in between the two
electrodes and the admittance in the piezoelectric layer is calculated. The bottom electrode is made
the ground layer.

Figure 1 a) Basic BAW resonator b) Electrical equivalent of BAW resonator.

Basically, BAW resonator is like a simple capacitor. An acoustic wave could be generated when
a differential voltage is applied on two electrodes, and it will produce acoustic reflection to the
film surfaces. In order to achieve a high enough electrical Q to maintain a very high level of
acoustic reflection between two metallic electrodes, the choices of both electrode materials and
piezoelectric materials must be well considered. [11]

1.2 MEMS RESONATORS

MEMS resonators are basically time based generators or references whose operating principle is
similar to the mechanical tuning fork which is used to tune musical instruments. One of the most
intriguing features of MEMS resonators is that in principal it can be tied to PLLs and oscillator
circuits on the same silicon substrate which would allow the clock and timing generators together
to occupy a single low profile semiconductor package. [12]
Cantilevers are typically rectangular shaped bars of Si less than 1um thick. Major advantages of
cantilevers are their small size, fast response time, high sensitivity and direct transduction. [13]
The idea of using beams of silicon as sensors to measure changes in resonance frequency is
actually quite an old idea. First reports go back to 1968, when Wilfinger et al. [14] investigated
silicon cantilever structures for detecting resonance [15]. Heng fabricated gold cantilever
capacitively coupled to micro strip lines in 1971 to mechanically trim high frequency oscillator
circuits [16].

3
Cantilevers are typically rectangular shaped bars of Si less than 1um thick.
Major advantages of cantilevers are their small size, fast response time, high sensitivity and
direct transduction.
Micro cantilever based sensors have two modes a) Static mode where the cantilever bends due to
an attached mass or force acting upon it b) dynamic mode, where the resonant frequency is
monitored which shifts due to the mass getting attached to the structure.
Micro cantilever sensors are being used for fabricating high performance chemical and
biological sensors for detection of explosives and also these sensors have a wide range of
applications in defense and medical fields.
Almost all surface micro machined thin films experience residual stress as a result of fabrication
process.
The most common source of residual stress is thermal stress.
Thermal stress is caused by change in temperature experienced during the fabrication sequence
and also due to the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the film and the
substrate.

1.3 TAGUCHIs ORTHOGONAL ARRAY

Taguchi has envisaged a new method of conducting the design of experiments which are based
on well-defined guidelines. This method uses a special set of arrays called orthogonal arrays.
These standard arrays stipulates the way of conducting the minimal number of experiments
which could give the full information of all the factors that affect the performance parameter.
The crux of the orthogonal arrays method lies in choosing the level combinations of the input
design variables for each experiment. Taguchi's catalog contains 20 arrays. However, only 18 of

4
these arrays are orthogonal arrays. These 18 orthogonal arrays are the focus of this paper, and
they have been classified into eight groups defined in such a way that the orthogonal arrays in
each group can be constructed by a common method. [17]

The vertical column under each independent variables of the above table has a special
combination of level settings. All the level settings appears an equal number of times. For L9
array under variable 4, level 1, level 2 and level 3 appears thrice. This is called the balancing
property of orthogonal arrays.

Various parameters of the BAW resonator are varied and input into an L4 and L9 array and the
optimum values are determined.
1.4 USE OF COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS 5.0

COMSOL Multiphysics 5, Computer simulation has become an essential part of science and
engineering. Digital analysis of components, in particular, is important when developing new
products or optimizing designs. Today a broad spectrum of options for simulation is available;
researchers use everything from basic programming languages to various high-level packages
implementing advanced methods. A computer simulation environment is simply a translation of
real-world physical laws into their virtual form. How much simplification takes place in the
translation process helps to determine the accuracy of the resulting model.

It would be ideal, then, to have a simulation environment that included the possibility to add any
physical effect to your model. That is what COMSOL is all about. Its a flexible platform that
allows even novice users to model all relevant physical aspects of their designs. Advanced users
can go deeper and use their knowledge to develop customized solutions, applicable to their
unique circumstances. With this kind of all-inclusive modeling environment, COMSOL gives
you the confidence to build the model you want with real world precision.

The COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software is a very handy tool for simulation based study.
We have used the MEMS module this simulation based optimization study where the BAW
resonator model was used as base to optimize the performance. The COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0
was used for the simulations.

2. NEED FOR THE PROJECT

The remarkable research achievements during the last decade and the potential for MEMS technology
to be one of the most promising and commercially viable one in the next century are well recognized.
Thus, the technology will play important roles in consumer electronics over the next five to 10 years.

Various MEMS devices are being used today and they have certain drawbacks. Mems devices are
simulated for their performance using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0 and various parameters are varied. This
study is quite competitive and is a tool for designers in selecting device parameters with the required
quality factor for futuristic wireless applications and is cost effective.

Performance of various MEMS devices is better studied and analyzed by optimizing the control
parameters by various optimization techniques like the Taguchis Orthogonal Array.

5
3. OBJECTIVE
Design, model and simulate MEMS devices and optimize the parameters to obtain an optimal
output that can be used in applications, by designers and in foundry purposes.

4. ROADMAP

February 2016 Folding of the cantilever beam for reduction of residual stress
March 2016- Reduction of the actuation voltage of the resonator.
April 2016- Simulation study of different MEMS devices like gyroscope, accelerometer
etc.
May 2016- Design and simulation of MEMS system

5. WORK DONE SO FAR

Figure 2 Structure of BAW resonator

The parameters varied in the experiment include:

1) Thickness of A
2) Thickness of B
3) Voltage applied to A
4) Width of the resonator
These parameters were varied using Taguchis orthogonal array making optimum combinations. The
different arrays are shown in Table 1 and Table 2.

Thickness of A Thickness of B Width of entire Displacement (um)

resonator (um)
0.175 8.5 900 9.23x10-4
0.175 9.5 1000 4.85x10-5
0.2 8.5 1000 1.47x10-3

6
 0.2 9.5 900 5.24x10-5
TABLE 1 L4 ARRAY CONSTANT VOLTAGE (1V)

Thickness of A Thickness of B Voltage Width of Displacement

applied resonator
0.175 8.5 0.75V 900um 3.6x10-4
0.175 9.5 1V 1000 5.06x10-5
0.175 10.5 1.25 1100 2.5x10-5
0.2 8.5 1V 1100 1.47x10-3
0.2 9.5 1.25 900um 6.55x10-5
0.2 10.5 0.75V 1000 1.75x10-5
0.225 8.5 1.25 1000 1.83x10-3
0.225 9.5 0.75V 1100 4.36x10-5
0.225 10.5 1V 900um 2.45x10-5

TABLE 2 L9 ARRAY
Figure 3 shows the simulation results for experiment number 3 in the L9 array combinations. Here we
have the maximum thickness of the piezo electric layer and the maximum voltage is applied. But as we
can see, the displacement is really low even though the voltage supply is high. Also, we can see that the
quality factor in figure 4 at maximum voltage is deteriorating.
Now, lets see figure 5, which shows the simulation results for experiment number 8 in L9 array
combinations. Here we can see that the thickness of the piezoelectric layer is the minimum and voltage is
same as Experiment number 3. But the displacement is the highest. Hence we can infer that the displacement
is varied majorly by the thickness of the piezoelectric layer. It shows inverse proportionality with the piezo
layer.

Figure 3 Displacement for experiment number 3

7
 Figure 4 Quality factor for Experiment number 3

Figure 5 Displacement for Experiment 8 Maximum Displacement

Figure 6 Quality Factor for maximum displacement for experiment 8

8
It can be observed from the table that the displacement is maximum when:

Thickness of the piezo layer is the minimum

Voltage applied is maximum
The major displacement variation factor was observed to be thickness of the piezo layer ( B)
Maximum value of thickness gives minimum displacement even for a high voltage supply.

6. RESULTS
For any sensing application, sensitivity and selectivity plays an important role. Selectivity is achieved by
a vital approach that is multi-array technique consisting of more than one array of cantilever beam
attached to the structure support.
Single micro-cantilevers:

Susceptible to parasitic deflections due to thermal drift

Chemical interaction of beam with environment
Multi-Array cantilevers:

Reference cantilever present

Shows net cantilever response
Thermal drift compensation is possible
The parameters varied are:

Array size of Cantilever Beam

Material of Cantilever beam and plate
Distance between the cantilever beams
Length of Resonator Plate
Width of Resonator Plate
Length of Cantilever Beam
Width of Cantilever Beam
In the below results for the simulations of change in array size we can see that the resonant frequency
increases as the array size increases.
Analytically this can be calculated by the following Rayleighs method:

1 4 3 24
0 = +
2 3 5

Where, L and W are the Length and width of the cantilever beam respectively. E is the Youngs Modulus
and t is the thickness of the cantilever beam, m is the mass of the plate and is the residual stress in the
resonator.
For an array size of 6 :

1 6 3 36
0 = +
2 3 5

9
TABLE 3 Array Size 4 simulation results

10
 Figure 7- Simulation results for experiment 7 without stress

Figure 8: simulation Results for Experiment 7, frequency = 86.288 KHz with stress.
For Array Size 4, we can see the maximum and the minimum values of resonant frequency highlighted in
Yellow and Red respectively.Here we can see that the higher the ratio of Length to width of the cantilever
beam, lower is the resonant frequency of the resonator.

TABLE 4 Array Size 6

11
Table 5 Array Size 8

12
 Figure 9 Simulation results for array size 8 without stress experiment 7
For Array size = 6, I have highlighted the maximum and minimum values of resonant frequency in yellow
and red respectively. As we can see, the value of the resonant frequency increases with increase in the
array size of the cantilever beams. The displacement decreases as we increase the array size. Hence the
selectivity increases as the array size decreases.

FIGURE 10 VARIATION OF RESONANT FREQUENCY WITH ARRAY SIZE

TABLE 6 DISTANCE VARIATION BETWEEN CANTILEVER BEAMS

13
As the distance between cantilever decreases, the resonant frequency increase. This is because, the
vibration of one cantilever beam induces resonance in the nearby beam, thus increasing the resonant
frequency. This can be used in fine tuning the frequency range for certain applications.

TABLE 7 TAGUCHIS 65 SCHEME

In this table we can see that the maximum resonant frequency is for the set with minimum Length to
width ratio of the cantilever beam. The two maximum values are marked yellow and if we analyze
amongst the two, the set with a lower Length to width of cantilever beam ratio has a higher resonant

14
frequency even though the array size is smaller.

Next, we simulated using a different material.

We used Silicon oxy-nitride instead of polysilicon.
It is observed that the level of residual stress in oxy-nitrides is a function of the nitrogen content in the
film. MEMS film stacks are prepared using both Si02 and oxy-nitride sacrificial layers. Polycrystalline Si
(Poly-Si) cantilevers fabricated under the same conditions are observed to be flatter when processed with
oxy-nitride rather than SiO2 sacrificial layers. [18] These results are attributed to the lower post-
processing residual stress of oxy-nitride compared to SiO2 and reduced thermal mismatch to Poly-Si.
Silicon oxy-nitride is a refractory material which appears to exhibit good mechanical and thermal
properties. [19]
Youngs Modulus - 220 x 109 Pa = 220GPa
Poissons Ratio 0.2
Density 2830 kg/cm3
Temperature coefficient 3.1348 x 10-7
Residual Strain = T = 3.1348 x 10-7 x (605 25) = 1.8181 x 10-4
Residual Stress r =[E/(1-v)] = 50MPa.
TABLE 8 POLYSILICON MATERIAL

15
 TABLE 9 SILICON OXY-NITRIDE

Change of material had no desired effects on the resonant frequency or the stress of the resonator.

CONCLUSION
With COMSOL simulation and Taguchi analysis provides information for the designer to optimize the
parameters in designing complex resonator structures. It was shown that the resonant frequency is
maximum for the highest number of array of cantilever beam. It was shown that the resonant frequency
was maximum for minimum length to width ratio of cantilever beam. The increase in distance between
the beams reduces the resonant frequency. Increase in the number of arrays, reduces the displacement
which also reduces the sensitivity of the resonator. The simulation results can help the foundry and the
designers to calculate the losses and the stress, before the fabrication of the device. The challenges lie
in optimization of these cantilever sensors to improve their sensitivity to the ultimate limit i.e. the
detection of an individual molecule. This kind of analysis helps in improving the resonant frequency
for future wireless communication. This work improves electronic device design by reducing

REFERENCES

16
[1] RF MEMS Devices for Wireless Applications, Jae Y. Park, Jong U. Bu, and Joong W. Lee,
JOURNAL OF SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE, VOL.1, NO. 1, MARCH 2001.
[2]RF MEMS and their applications,Vijay K. Vardhan, Pennsylvania State University, USA
[3] RF-FILTERS IN MOBILE PHONE APPLICATIONS R. Aimer, S. Marksteiner, L. Elbrecht, W.
Nessler, The,lZth Infernational Conference on Solid State Senson, Actuators and Microsyslems, Boston.
June 8-12, 2003

[4] [1]Tapani Makkonen, Antti Holappa, Juha Ella, and Martti M. Salomaa,Finite element simulations
of Thin-Film Composite BAW Resonators, IEEE Trans. On Ultrason, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency
Cotrol, VOL. 48, no5, pp.1241-1258, 2001
[5] H.Satoh, H.Suzuki, C. Takahashi, C. Narahara, and Y. Ebata, A 400 MHz one-chip oscillator
using and air gap type thin film resonator, in Proc. IEEE Ultrason. Symp., pp. 363-368, 1987
[6] W.A. Burkland, A.R. Landlin, G.R. Kline, and R.S. Ketcham, A thin-film-bulk-acoustic-wave
resonator-controlled oscillator on silicon, IEEE Electron. Device Lett., vol. EDL-8, no. 11, pp. 531-
533, 1987
[7] R.B. Stokes, J.D. Crawford, and D. Cushman, Monolithic bulk acoustic filters to X-band in GaAs,
in Proc. IEEE Ultrason. Symp., pp. 547-551, 1993.
[8] T.W. Grudkowski, J.F. Black, T.M. Reeder, D.E. Cullen, and R.A. Wagner, Fundamental-mode
VHF/UHF miniature acoustic resonators and filters on silicon, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 37, no. 11, pp.
993-995, 1980.
[9] K.M. Lakin, Modelling of thin film resonators and filters, IEEE MTT-S Digest, vol. 1, pp. 149-
152, 1992.
[10] Frederic Nabki, Karim Allidina, Faisal Ahmad, Paul-Vahe Cicek, and Mourad N. El-Gamal, A
Highly Integrated 1.8 GHz Frequency Synthesizer Based on a MEMS Resonator, IEEE Journal of
solid-state circuits, VOL. 44, no. 8, pp. 2154-2168, August 2009
[11] Design and simulation of Bulk acoustic wave MEMS resonator, Wahengbam Kanan Kumar , Anuj
Goel, International Journal of Exploring Emerging Trends in Engineering (IJEETE) Vol. 01, Issue 01,
Sept, 2014
[12] Design of Piezoelectric Aluminum Nitride MEMS Resonator, Ravi Patni, Mohit Joshi, Sameer
Mehra, and Akhilesh Mohan
[13] Cantilever Array sensors, Hans Peter Lang, Martin Hegner and Christoph Gerber, Materials Today,
April 2005
[14] Triton, T.Suga: Force Sensing Micro cantilever using sputtered Zinc oxide film, appl. Phys. Lett.
64,37-39(1994)
[15] Nano mechanical Cantilever Array Sensors, Hans peter Lang, Martin Hegner, Christoph Gerbe.
[16] T.M.S Heng, Trimming of micro strip circuits utilizing micro cantilever air gaps, IEEE Trans.
Microwave Theory Technology 19,652-654(1968).

17
[17] Taguchis Orthogonal Arrays Are Classical Designs of Experiments, Raghu N. Kacker, Eric S.
Lagergren, and James J. Filliben, Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology,1991.
[18] Elastic properties of silicon oxynitride, P. Boch, J.C. Glandus, Journal of material sciences 14, 1979.
[19] Properties of low residual stress silicon oxynitride used as sacrificial layer, S. Haberrnehl, A. K.
Glenzinski, W. M. Halliburton and J. J. Sniegowski, 2000.

18