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• Mariani, S
• Ghisi, A
• Corigliano, A
• Zerbini, S
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• Mariani, S
• Ghisi, A
• Corigliano, A
• Zerbini, S
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• Mariani, S
• Ghisi, A
• Corigliano, A
• Zerbini, S

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Sensors 2009, 9(1), 556-567; doi:10.3390/s90100556

Article

Modeling Impact-induced Failure of Polysilicon MEMS: A Multi-scale Approach

Stefano Mariani ^1,* , Aldo Ghisi ¹ , Alberto Corigliano ¹  and Sarah Zerbini ²

¹ Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 – Milano, Italy ² MAHRS Unit, STMicroelectronics, Via Tolomeo 1, 20010 – Cornaredo, Italy

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 12 December 2008; in revised form: 10 January 2009 / Accepted: 13 January 2009 / Published: 19 January 2009

(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Sensors Technology in Italy)

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Abstract: Failure of packaged polysilicon micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) subjected to impacts involves phenomena occurring at several length-scales. In this paper we present a multi-scale finite element approach to properly allow for: (i) the propagation of stress waves inside the package; (ii) the dynamics of the whole MEMS; (iii) the spreading of micro-cracking in the failing part(s) of the sensor. Through Monte Carlo simulations, some effects of polysilicon micro-structure on the failure mode are elucidated.

Keywords: inertial MEMS sensors; impact-induced failure; dynamic fracture; multi-scale FE analysis

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