Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems are being used today for numerous applications including pressure and acceleration sensors, micro mirror display devices and micro fluidic pumps. MEMS devices extend the fabrication techniques used by the integrated circuit industry to create mechanical elements such as gears, diaphragms and connecting beams. Accurate measurement of all these elements is critical to meet the demand of mass producing low cost high quality MEMS devices.
Metrology
Roughness
Accurate measurement of roughness within MEMS devices allows surface interactions to be controlled, whether they are solid to solid interactions as in micro gear systems or solid to liquid as found in micro fluid pumps.
Step Height
monitoring step height of MEMS devices is an important indicator of performance. Along with lateral dimension information step height gives a good approximation of mass which affects the fundamental oscillating frequency of the individual elements in the device.
Lateral Dimensions
lateral dimensions are particularly important when characterising micro gears and fluidic systems. Accurate measurement of volume and surface area as well as critical dimensions such as beam widths all help control the performance of the final device.