A novel method for measuring the strength of microbeams

Author

Elata, David ; Hirshberg, Arnon

Author_Institution

Fac. of Mech. Eng., Technion - Israel Inst. of Technol., Haifa, Israel

Volume

15

Issue

2

fYear

2006

fDate

4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

396

Lastpage

405

Abstract

A novel method and test structure for measuring the strength of brittle microbeams is presented. The method does not require any measurement of forces or displacements. The test structure includes a microbeam that is wrapped over a curved side-wall by application of an unmeasured force. With the progression of wrapping, increasing tensile stresses are induced in the microbeam. When sufficiently high stresses are induced, the beam breaks. The failure stress is deduced by measuring the length of the remaining ligament of the broken beam. The method is demonstrated by measuring the strength of microbeams in bulk-micromachined test structures.

Keywords

beams (structures); cantilevers; micromechanical devices; stress analysis; tensile strength; tensile testing; brittle microbeams; bulk-micromachined test structures; curved side-wall; failure stress; strength measurement; tensile stress; Displacement measurement; Force measurement; Mechanical factors; Microelectromechanical devices; Micromachining; Silicon; Solids; Suspensions; Tensile stress; Testing; Mechanical test device; strength of microstructures;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JMEMS.2006.872237

Filename

1618725