Fabrication of Thick Silicon Dioxide Air-Bridge and Coplanar Waveguide for RF Application Using Complex Oxidation Process and MEMS Technology

This paper proposes a $10\;{\mu}m$ thick oxide air-bridge structure which can be used as a substrate for RF circuits. The structure was fabricated by anodic reaction, complex oxidation and micromachining technology using TMAH etching. High quality films were obtained by combining low temperature thermal oxidation ($500^{\circ}C$, 1 hr at $H_2O/O_2$) and rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) process ($1050^{\circ}C$, 2 min). This structure is mechanically stable because of thick oxide layer up to $10\;{\mu}m$ and is expected to solve the problem of high dielectric loss of silicon substrate in RF region. The properties of the transmission line formed on the oxidized porous silicon (OPS) air-bridge were investigated and compared with those of the transmission line formed on the OPS layers. The insertion loss of coplanar waveguide (CPW) on OPS air-bridge was (about 2dB) lower than that of CPW on OPS layers. Also, the return loss of CPW on OPS air-bridge was less than about -20 dB at measured frequency region for 2.2 mm. Therefore, this technology is very promising for extending the use of CMOS circuitry to higher RF frequencies.

복합 산화법과 MEMS 기술을 이용한 RF용 두꺼운 산화막 에어 브리지 및 공면 전송선의 제조

본 논문에서는 양극반응과 복합 산화법($H_2O/O_2$ 분위기에서 $500^{\circ}C$, 1시간 열산화와 $1050^{\circ}C$, 2분간 RTO(Rapid Thermal Oxidation) 공정)을 이용한 두꺼운 OPSL(Oxidized Porous Silicon Layer)을 형성하여 이를 마이크로머시닝 기술을 이용함으로써 $10\;{\mu}m$ 두께의 OPS(Oxidized Porous Silicon) 에어 브리지를 제조하고, 그 위에 전송선로를 형성하여 그 RF 특성을 조사하였다. OPS 에어 브리지 위에 형성된 CPW(Coplanar Waveguide)의 손실이 OPSL 위에 형성된 전송선의 삽입손실보다 약 2dB 정도 적은 것을 보여주었으며, 반사손실은 OPSL 위에 형성된 전송선의 반사손실보다 적으며 약 -20 dB를 넘지 않고 있다. 본 연구에서 개발한 산화된 다공질 실리콘 멤브레인 및 에어 브리지 구조는 CMOS 공정 후에 사용 가능하며, 초고주파 회로 설계시 편리성과 유용성을 제시하고 있다.