Modeling and design of a low-voltage SOI suspended-gate MOSFET (SG-MOSFET) with a metal-over-gate architecture

A novel MEMS device architecture: the SOI SG-MOSFET, which combines a solid-state MOS transistor and a suspended metal membrane in a unique metal-over-gate architecture, is proposed. A unified physical analytical model (weak, moderate and strong inversions) is developed and used to investigate main electrostatic characteristics in order to provide first-order design criteria for low-voltage operation and high-performance. It is demonstrated that the use of a thin gate oxide (<20 nm) is essential for a high C/sub on//C/sub off/ ratio (>100) and a low spring constant (<100 N/m) is needed for low voltage (<5 V) actuation. An adapted fabrication process is reported.