Koukou Suu, Ph.D.

General Manager, Market & Technology Strategy, ULVAC Technologies, Inc.

Piezoelectric Thin Film Deposition for CMOS & MEMS Devices

MSTC 2018 Session 4: MATERIALS & CHARACTERIZATION

Wednesday February 14, 2018 ~ 10:20 - 10:50 AM 

About Koukou Suu, Ph.D.

Dr. Koukou Suu graduated and received Ph.D degree in Engineering from Tohoku University, Japan in 1988 and 1993 respectively. He joined ULVAC, Inc. in 1993 and since then has been leading and engaging with developments of numerous semiconductor and electronics technologies including emerging non-volatile memories, high-K capacitors, LED, power devices, thin-film Li-battery as well as 3D packaging manufacturing technologies.
He was General Manager of Institute of Semiconductor and Electronics Technologies of the company from 2008 to 2014. Now he is ULVAC Senior Fellow and General Manager of Global Market & Technology Strategy Division of the company.

Abstract

There are significant expectations for piezoelectric thin films to enable the next generation of smaller, lower power, better performing and more integrated MEMS devices. Consumer applications like smartphones and new applications in medical devices are constantly pushing the boundaries for component footprint and height. Piezoelectric materials and the associated piezoelectric effect can be used to further miniaturize a range of devices, including inertial sensors, tunable RF devices, micromirrors, microphones, autofocus lenses and others. PZT has superior piezoelectric properties over other materials, such as AlN. Despite its high lead content, PZT remains the most widely used piezoelectric material. The integration of thin film deposition directly on CMOS-processed wafers is key for highly-integrated devices that are needed to meet market requirements. Sputtering is the only identified high-volume processing method that allows sub 500°C processing temperatures and is compatible with other CMOS processes. Depositing piezoelectric thin films of, for example, PZT cannot be done in traditional sputtering systems. It requires specialized equipment that is properly dimensioned and configured to pole the piezoelectric crystals during the deposition process. We will present a novel deposition process for PZT that enables use of this important piezo material for MEMS and integrated CMOS/MEMs devices.