Impurity analysis of electroplated gold components with multi-layered structures by thermal desorption spectrometry toward application in gold Micro electro mechanical system capacitive accelerometers

Au-based micro-electro-mechanical-system (Au-MEMS) capacitance accelerometers show high sensitivity by suppressing the mechanical noise because of the high mass density of gold (rho = 19.3 g/cm3). On the other hand, their long-term reliability suffers from drift phenomena induced by the impurities incorporated in the key component during their fabrication process, such as the gold electroplating step. Herein, impurities in electroplated Au-based components for MEMS capacitive accelerometers are evaluated by thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS) measurements. The TDS measurement reveals that dominant desorption gases from the Au-based component are molecular hydrogen (H2) and water (H2O). These desorption gases are derived from impurities in the electroplated Au-based component, and the amount of these gases is significantly suppressed by a thermal treatment step. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the electroplated Au-based component contains impurities originated from the fabrication process, and these impurities could be removed by a thermal treatment step.