Long-term stability of ICPCVD a-Si under prolonged heat treatment

Author

Brookshire, Kirsten L. ; Martyniuk, Mariusz ; Dilusha Silva, K.K.M.B. ; Yinong Liu ; Faraone, Lorenzo

Author_Institution

Microelectron. Res. Group (MRG), Univ. of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

fYear

2014

fDate

14-17 Dec. 2014

Firstpage

160

Lastpage

163

Abstract

Inductively coupled plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (ICPCVD) a-Si is used as a structural material in many microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). For a-Si to function as a sound structural component, the material must display long term mechanical stability. This paper evaluates the Young´s modulus, hardness, and residual stress of a-Si under prolonged heat treatment. It is found that Young´s modulus and hardness are not impacted by heat treatment, while the residual stress becomes more tensile with increased annealing time. Increased tensile stress is a result of hydrogen offgassing which can lead to improved film stability [1].

Keywords

Young´s modulus; amorphous semiconductors; annealing; elemental semiconductors; hardness; heat treatment; internal stresses; mechanical stability; plasma CVD; semiconductor thin films; silicon; tensile strength; ICPCVD; MEMS; Si; Young´s modulus; annealing time; film stability; hardness; hydrogen offgassing; inductively coupled plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited a-Si materials; long term mechanical stability; microelectromechanical system; prolonged heat treatment; residual stress; sound structural component; structural material; tensile stress; Annealing; Films; Residual stresses; Silicon; Substrates; Young´s modulus; ICPCVD; Young´s modulus; a-Si; bi-layer; hardness; residual stress; thin film;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Optoelectronic and Microelectronic Materials & Devices (COMMAD), 2014 Conference on

Conference_Location

Perth, WA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-6867-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/COMMAD.2014.7038680

Filename

7038680