BPN373: AlN Piezo: Aluminum Nitride CMOS-Integrated Accelerometer (MiNaSIP)

The purpose of this project is to investigate the use of Aluminum-Nitride (AlN) thin films in accelerometer design. Aluminum Nitride is attractive in this regard as the piezoelectric properties of AlN remove the need for electrostatic comb structures for position sensing and the deposition of AlN is viable material for post-CMOS MEMS fabrication. The long-term objective of this project is to realize self-temperature compensating resonators through choice of electrode, sacrificial, and substrate materials; and to quantify energy dissipation caused by thermo piezo elastic dissipation at piezo/electrode boundary in piezoelectric RF resonators.

Project end date: 02/15/08