Simulation Study on Mechanical Stabilization of MEMS Stencils for Nanolithography

Nanostencilling (localized material deposition through ultra-miniature shadow-masks) is a promising patterning technique. Currently, the quality of pattern resolution suffers significantly due to mechanical instability of the stencil caused by the deposition-induced stresses. This paper presents results of FEM simulation study on mechanical stabilization of MEMS stencils. Simulation results are compared to measured data (where available) and good correlation is observed. Studied various geometries of stabilization were found to significantly reduce (up to 96%) out-of-plane deformation of the membrane. These effects can be employed constructively in future work to stabilize real stencils (complex apertured membranes) thus improve the dimensional control of the deposited patterns/structures.