Nano-scale fatigue study of LPCVD silicon nitride thin films using a mechanical-amplifier actuator
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: This paper describes a nano-scale tensile test to study the fatigue properties of LPCVD silicon nitride thin films using a novel electrostatic actuator design. Mechanical-amplifier devices made in silicon nitride thin films can apply controllable tensile stress (2.0–7.8 GPa) to test structures with relatively low actuation voltages (5.7–35.4 V RMS ) at the resonant frequencies of the devices. The test devices are fabricated using a surface micromachining technique in combination with deep reactive ion etching and ion milling. With the recently developed experimental techniques inside a focused-ion-beam system, in situ fatigue measurements are performed on silicon nitride test structures with beam widths of 200 nm. The silicon nitride test structures are found to exhibit time-delayed failures with continuous increases in their compliance. By reducing the applied tensile stress to 3.8 GPa, the test structures can survive cyclic loadings up to 10 8 cycles.
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2104512188