I've put 0.5 um of PECVD nitride onto gold as an insulator and had no
adhesion problems.
No breakdown at 10 V, as expected. For your 0.1 V, you could use less than
0.05 um = 50 nm = 500 A.
PECVD oxide is another option.
    --Kirt Williams

----- Original Message -----
From: 
To: "General MEMS discussion" 
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 8:07 AM
Subject: [mems-talk] insulating Au electrodes


> Hello All:
>
> I want to evaporate SiO2 by e-beam evaporator on Au electrodes to
> insulate them as I need to operate the sample in buffer solution.
>
> two questions:
> 1. what is the minimum thickness should be to protect Au electrodes
> which is 150nm thick? operation voltage is small than 100mV.
>
> 2. SiO2 does not stick very well on the Au, is there a way to improve
> the adherence of SiO2 on Au?
>
> or you have any other better way to insulate the Au electrodes?