Thermal stability of vapor phase deposited self-assembled monolayers for MEMS anti-stiction

Six different source chemicals (organosilanes) were successfully used for deposition of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) onto silicon substrates by a vapor phase process. Five different fluorocarbon coatings and one hydrocarbon coating were deposited. The thermal stability of the coatings was studied in detail with respect to degradation as a function of temperature, and for the fluorocarbon coatings also the degradation rate at 400 °C. For fluorocarbon coatings deposited from FDTS a useful lifetime of approximately 90 min at 400 °C was found allowing the coating to survive high temperature MEMS packaging operations, while fluorocarbon coatings deposited from FOTS, FOMDS, FOTES and FOMMS were less stable. The hydrocarbon coating deposited from OTS degrades already at approximately 200 °C. The thermal stability of the SAM coatings was found to be significantly reduced if aggregations from the deposition process are present on the coatings.