Determination of mechanical properties of silicon nitride thin films using nanoindentation

Author(s):  
Mariusz Martyniuk ◽  
Jarek Antoszewski ◽  
Byron A. Walmsley ◽  
Charles A. Musca ◽  
John M. Dell ◽  
...  
2015 ◽  
Vol 742 ◽  
pp. 773-777
Author(s):  
Qun Feng Yang ◽  
Jian Yi Zheng ◽  
Jun Qing Wang ◽  
Jun Hui Lin ◽  
Xue Nan Zhao ◽  
...  

The purpose of this work is to study the mechanical characteristics of the silicon nitride(SiNx) thin films prepared by PECVD technique, some researches as follows were carried out. First, the SiNx thin films were deposited on the two different substrates. Then, the atomic force microscope (AFM) was adopted to test the surface quality of the SiNxfilms, and the scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to test the section morphology of the SiNxthin films. Finally, the rotating beam structures was applied to measure the residual stress in the SiNx films. The SiNxthin films with low stress can be fabricated through PECVD, in which the surface roughness values(Ra) are 1.261 nm and 2.383nm, and the residual stress is 43.5 kPa. Therefore, the SiNxthin films deposited by PECVD are suitable for the preparation of device dielectric films in MEMS.


2014 ◽  
Vol 606 ◽  
pp. 213-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Vilčeková ◽  
Monika Kašiarová ◽  
Magdaléna Domanická ◽  
Miroslav Hnatko ◽  
Pavol Šajgalík

Local mechanical properties, particularly the hardness and Youngs modulus of highly porous silicon nitride based foams were studied in this work. Silicon nitride foams were prepared using polyurethane foam replication method to obtain appropriate cellular structure suitable for bio-application. Two types of the polyurethane foams were used (with average pore size 0.48 mm and 0.62 mm). Some of these samples were prepared by single or multiple infiltrations. The effects of structures, temperature of calcination, volume fraction of Si3N4 powder and number of the infiltrations on the local mechanical properties were investigated. The Youngs modulus of studied samples range from 12 to 46 GPa at the macroscopic scale measured by resonant frequency technique and from 10 to 28 GPa at the microscopic scale measured by instrumented indentation. Results showed increase of the hardness and Youngs modulus with increasing of the calcination temperature, with increasing of the number of infiltrations and also with increasing of volume fraction of Si3N4 powder in suspension. The results obtained from nanoindentation carry out lower values in comparison with the values measured by resonant frequency technique.


Surfaces ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenghao Gan ◽  
Changzheng Wang ◽  
Zhong Chen

Silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride thin films are widely used in microelectronic fabrication and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Their mechanical properties are important for MEMS structures; however, these properties are rarely reported, particularly the fracture toughness of these films. In this study, silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride thin films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) under different silane flow rates. The silicon nitride films consisted of mixed amorphous and crystalline Si3N4 phases under the range of silane flow rates investigated in the current study, while the crystallinity increased with silane flow rate in the silicon oxynitride films. The Young’s modulus and hardness of silicon nitride films decreased with increasing silane flow rate. However, for silicon oxynitride films, Young’s modulus decreased slightly with increasing silane flow rate, and the hardness increased considerably due to the formation of a crystalline silicon nitride phase at the high flow rate. Overall, the hardness, Young modulus, and fracture toughness of the silicon nitride films were greater than the ones of silicon oxynitride films, and the main reason lies with the phase composition: the SiNx films were composed of a crystalline Si3N4 phase, while the SiOxNy films were dominated by amorphous Si–O phases. Based on the overall mechanical properties, PECVD silicon nitride films are preferred for structural applications in MEMS devices.


1997 ◽  
Vol 505 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Jayaraman ◽  
R. L. Edwards ◽  
K. J. Hemker

ABSTRACTUsing standard deposition and micromachining techniques, silicon substrates with square and rectangular windows covered with membranes of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) have been fabricated. Pressure-displacement curves obtained during the bulge testing of membranes with the above geometries have been used to determine the elastic constants E and v of the polysilicon. The results obtained (E = 162± 4 GPa and v = 0.19±0.03) are in good agreement with literature values for bulk polycrystalline silicon.


2015 ◽  
Vol 307 (1) ◽  
pp. 341-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Huszank ◽  
László Csedreki ◽  
Zsófia Kertész ◽  
Zsófia Török

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