Stiction reduction processes for surface micromachines

We present a review of surface micromachining technology with an emphasis on polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) microstructures. The problems of release-related and in-use stiction are then introduced along with a brief review of various approaches developed for reducing them. These include surface roughening and chemical modification of the silicon surfaces. The constraints that post-release back-end processes such as assembly and packaging place on surface treatments are described in general. Finally, we briefly outline some of the important scientific and technological issues that remain to be clarified in stiction phenomena in micromechanical structures.