Mechanical fatigue of polysilicon: Effects of mean stress and stress amplitude

Polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) fatigue specimens with micrometer-sized dimensions were fabricated and subjected to cyclic loading using an integrated electrostatic actuator. The fatigue effects were determined by comparing the single edge-notched beam monotonic bend strength measured after cyclic loading to the monotonic strength of "virgin" specimens that had received no cycling. Both strengthening and weakening were observed, depending on the levels of mean stress and fatigue stress amplitude during the cyclic loading. Monotonic loading with similar sub-critical stress levels had no effect. The physical mechanisms responsible for this behavior are discussed, and a model based on grain boundary plasticity is presented for the strengthening behavior.