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Multilayer Electret Activated By Direct Contact Silicon Electrode., Mark M. Crain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Electrets used in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices are often formed by corona charging, where ionized gases are generated in an electric field to introduce a charge to the electret surface. The purpose of this study was to investigate a new technique for creating an electret from a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) multilayer film of SiO2/Si3N4/SiO2 using a direct contact electrode of silicon. The electret formation takes advantage of deep traps in silicon nitride, which are known to develop from hydrogen interactions with silicon dangling bonds and, in some stoichiometries, nitrogen dangling bonds. The electret activation process has been …