Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:52:53.805Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

High-Cycle Fatigue of Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Films in Laboratory Air

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2011

C. L. Muhlstein ,
S.B. Brown  and
R.O. Ritchie
C. L. Muhlstein
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1760
S.B. Brown
Affiliation:
Exponent, Inc., Natick, MA 01760
R.O. Ritchie
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1760
Get access

Abstract

When subjected to alternating stresses, most materials degrade, e.g., suffer premature failure, due to a phenomenon known as fatigue. It is generally accepted that in brittle materials, such as ceramics, cyclic fatigue can only take place where there is some degree of toughening, implying that premature fatigue failure would not be expected in polycrystalline silicon where such toughening is absent. However, the fatigue failure of polysilicon is reported in the present work, based on tests on thirteen thin-film (2 μm thick) specimens cycled to failure in laboratory air (∼25°C, 30-50% relative humidity), where damage accumulation and failure of the notched cantilever beams were monitored electrically during the test. Specimen lives ranged from about 10 seconds to 34 days (5 × 105 to 1 × 1011 cycles) with the stress amplitude at failure being reduced to ∼50% of the low-cycle strength for lives in excess of 109 cycles.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 657: Symposia EE – Materials Science of Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Devices III , 2000 , EE5.8
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Ritchie, R.O., Int. J. Fract., 100, p. 55–83, (1999).Google Scholar
2. Ritchie, R.O. and Dauskardt, R.H., J. Ceram. Soc. Jap., 99, p. 1047–62 (1991).Google Scholar
3. Connally, J.A. and Brown, S.B., Science, 256, p. 1537–9, 5063 (1992).Google Scholar
4. Arsdell, W.W. Van and Brown, S.B., J. MEMS, 8, p. 319–27 (1999).Google Scholar
5. Brown, S.B., Arsdell, W. Van, and Muhlstein, C.L. in Proceedings of International Solid State Sensors and Actuators Conference (Transducers '97), 1, p. 591–3 (1997).Google Scholar
6. Muhlstein, C. and Brown, S. in Tribology issues and opportunities in MEMS: proceedings of the NSF/AFOSR/ASME Workshop on Tribology Issues and Opportunities in MEMS, p. 80 (1997).Google Scholar
7. Kahn, H., Ballarini, R., Mullen, R.L., and Heuer, A.H., Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 455, p. 3807–23 (1999).Google Scholar
8. Baxter, L.K., Capacitive sensors: design and applications (IEEE, New York, 1997).Google Scholar
9. Freeman, D.M., Aranyosi, A.J., Gordon, M.J., and Hong, S.S., in Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop Technical Digest Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, p. 150–5 (1998).Google Scholar
10. Sharpe, W.N., Brown, S., Johnson, G.C., and Knauss, W. in Microelectromechanical Systems for Materials Research, edited by Brown, S., Gilbert, J., Guckel, H., Howe, R., Johnson, G., Krulevitch, P., and Muhlstein, C., (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc. 518, 1998) p. 57–65.Google Scholar