Microscale material testing of single crystalline silicon: process effects on surface morphology and tensile strength

摘要

The mechanical properties of single-crystalline silicon are measured by uniaxial tension tests from microscale beam specimens patterned by four different common silicon etchants — KOH, EDP, TMAH and XeF_(2). SOI wafers are used to prepare test samples, which are 3-5 μm thick, 20-100 μm wide, and 6 mm long beam specimens; these are monolithically mounted on a temporary frame. A uniaxial tension test has been designed to accommodate microscale test requirements such as sample handling, sample alignment, and friction elimination. Stress and strain are measured using a commercial load cell and a laser interferometry system, respectively. Young's modulus of silicon in the <110> direction is measured to be 169.2±3.5 GPa, very close to the widely accepted value of 168.9 GPa obtained from a macroscale sample by an ultrasonic method. The fracture strength in the <110> direction is measured to vary from 0.6 to 1.2 GPa, and is apparently affected by the etching process employed to make the microscale specimen. As surface defects are expected to be the main factor determining the strength of the specimen, surface morphology is examined not only as a function of etchants but also as a function of mask-to-crystal direction misalignment after KOH etching. In the case of samples prepared by KOH etching, measured fracture strengths are 0.94 and 0.72 GPa from samples with 0°and 2°misalignments, respectively.