Stress and strain gradient control of polycrystalline SiC films

Author

Fu, X.A. ; Dunning, J. ; Zorman, C.A. ; Mehregany, M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

21-25 June 2009

Firstpage

1087

Lastpage

1090

Abstract

This work reports the development of very low residual stress and low strain gradient polycrystalline SiC (poly-SiC) thin films deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). Using dichlorosilane (DCS, SiH₂Cl₂) and acetylene (C₂H₂) as precursors, it was found that the flow rate of DCS can be used to adjust the residual stress from tensile to compressive in as-deposited films. The resulting poly-SiC films, with tensile stresses lower than 50 MPa and strain gradients as low as 1.3times10^-4 mum^-1, are well-suited for MEMS and NEMS structural materials.

Keywords

chemical vapour deposition; compressive strength; internal stresses; micromechanical devices; nanoelectromechanical devices; semiconductor thin films; silicon compounds; tensile strength; wide band gap semiconductors; LPCVD; MEMS structural materials; NEMS structural materials; SiC; acetylene precursors; compressive stress; dichlorosilane precursors; low pressure chemical vapor deposition; polycrystalline thin films; residual stress; strain gradient control; stress gradient control; tensile stress; Capacitive sensors; Chemical vapor deposition; Distributed control; Residual stresses; Silicon carbide; Sputtering; Strain control; Stress control; Tensile strain; Tensile stress; LPCVD; Silicon carbide; poly-SiC; residual stress; strain gradient;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2009. TRANSDUCERS 2009. International

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4190-7

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4193-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SENSOR.2009.5285948

Filename

5285948