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Fault localization and failure modes in microsystems-enabled photovoltaic devices

IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium Proceedings

Cruz-Campa, Jose L.; Haase, Gad S.; Tangyunyong, Paiboon T.; Cole, Edward I.; Pimentel, Alejandro A.; Resnick, Paul J.; Okandan, Murat O.; Nielson, Gregory N.

Microsystems-enabled photovoltaic (MEPV) technology is a promising approach to lower the cost of solar energy to competitive levels. This paper describes current development efforts to leverage existing silicon integrated circuit (IC) failure analysis (FA) techniques to study MEPV devices. Various FA techniques such as light emission microscopy and laser-based fault localization were used to identify and characterize primary failure modes after fabrication and packaging. The FA results provide crucial information used in provide corrective actions and improve existing MEPV fabrication techniques. © 2013 IEEE.

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Failure analysis of tungsten coated polysilicon micromachined microengines

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

Walraven, J.A.; Mani, Seethambal S.; Fleming, J.G.; Headley, Thomas J.; Kotula, Paul G.; Pimentel, Alejandro A.; Rye, Michael J.; Tanner, Danelle M.; Smith, Norman F.

Failure analysis (FA) tools have been applied to analyze tungsten coated polysilicon microengines. These devices were stressed under accelerated conditions at ambient temperatures and pressure. Preliminary results illustrating the failure modes of microengines operated under variable humidity and ultra-high drive frequency will also be shown. Analysis of tungsten coated microengines revealed the absence of wear debris in microengines operated under ambient conditions. Plan view imaging of these microengines using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed no accumulation of wear debris on the surface of the gears or ground plane on microengines operated under standard laboratory conditions. Friction bearing surfaces were exposed and analyzed using the focused ion beam (FIB). These cross sections revealed no accumulation of debris along friction bearing surfaces. By using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in conjunction with electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), we were able to identify the thickness, elemental analysis, and crystallographic properties of tungsten coated MEMS devices. Atomic force microscopy was also utilized to analyze the surface roughness of friction bearing surfaces.

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7 Results
7 Results