Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T15:36:06.826Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rate Sensitivity and Size Effects in Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposited Silicon Oxide Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Zhiqiang Cao  and
Xin Zhang
Zhiqiang Cao
Affiliation:
[email protected], Boston University, Department of Manufacturing Engineering, 15 Saint Mary's Street, Brookline, MA, 02446, United States, (617)358-1913
Xin Zhang
Affiliation:
[email protected], Boston University, Department of Manufacturing Engineering, United States
Get access

Abstract

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) silicon oxide (SiOx) thin films have been widely used in MEMS to form electrical and mechanical components. In this paper, both the time-independent and the time-dependent plastic responses of the PECVD SiOx films were studied by the instrumented nanoindentation experiments. Our experiments found an enhanced rate-sensitivity and size-effect in the plastic responses of the PECVD SiOx thin films. In addition, the plastic flow behavior is more homogeneous compared with most inorganic glasses and many metallic glasses. The deformation mechanism in the PECVD SiOx thin films is depicted by the shear transformation zone (STZ) based amorphous plasticity theory. The physical origin of the STZ is elucidated and linked with the plastic deformation dynamics.

Keywords

oxideamorphousplasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) (deposition)
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 904: Symposium BB – Mechanisms of Mechanical Deformation in Brittle Materials , 2005 , 0904-BB04-21
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Gad-el-Hak, M., The MEMS Handbook. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2002).Google Scholar
2 Madou, M., Fundamentals of Microfabrication: The Science of Miniaturization, 2nd ed. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2002).Google Scholar
3 Epstein, A. H. and Senturia, S. D., Science 276, 1211 (1997).Google Scholar
4 Cao, Z. and Zhang, X., J. Appl. Phys. 96, 4273 (2004) and the references therein.Google Scholar
5 Oliver, W.C. and Pharr, G. M., J. Mater. Res. 7, 1564 (1992).Google Scholar
6 Oliver, W.C. and Pharr, G. M., J. Mater. Res. 19, 3, (2004) and the references therein.Google Scholar
7 Courtney, T. H., Mechanical Behavior of Materials, 2nd ed. (McGraw Hill, Boston, 2000).Google Scholar
8 Schuh, C. A. and Nieh, T. G., Acta Mater. 51, 87 (2003).Google Scholar
9 Schuh, C. A. and Nieh, T. G., J. Mater. Res. 19, 46 (2004) and the references therein.Google Scholar
10 Falk, M. L. and Langer, J. S., Phys. Rev. E 57, 7192 (1998).Google Scholar
11 Langer, J. S., Phys. Rev. E 64, 011504 (2001).Google Scholar
12 Falk, M. L., Langer, J. S., and Pechenik, L., Phys. Rev. E, 70, 011507(2004).Google Scholar
13 Shi, Y. and Falk, M. L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 011914 (2005).Google Scholar
14 Schuh, C. A. and Lund, A. C., Nat. Mater. 2, 449 (2003).Google Scholar
15 Bhattacharya, A. K. and Nix, W. D., Int. J. Solids. Struct. 24, 1287 (1988).Google Scholar