User menu

Accès à distance ? S'identifier sur le proxy UCLouvain

A generic “micro-Stoney” method for the measurement of internal stress and elastic modulus of ultrathin films

Primary tabs

download
  • Open access
  • PDF
  • 1.84 M
Favache, Audrey [UCL] Ryelandt, Sophie [UCL] Melchior, Maxime Zeb, Gul Carbonnelle, Pierre Raskin, Jean-Pierre [UCL] Pardoen, Thomas [UCL]

Accurate measurement of the mechanical properties of ultra-thin films with thicknesses typically below 100 nm is a challenging issue with an interest in many fields involving coating technologies, microelectronics, and MEMS. A bilayer curvature based method is developed for the simultaneous determination of the elastic mismatch strain and Young’s modulus of ultra-thin films. The idea is to deposit the film or coating on very thin cantilevers in order to amplify the curvature compared to a traditional “Stoney” wafer curvature test, hence the terminology “micro-Stoney.” The data reduction is based on the comparison of the curvatures obtained for different supporting layer thicknesses. The elastic mismatch strain and Young’s modulus are obtained from curvature measurements of cantilevers before and after the film deposition. The data reduction scheme relies on both analytical and finite element calculations, depending on the magnitude of the curvature. The experimental validation has been performed on ultra-thin low pressure chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride films with thickness ranging between 54 and 133 nm deposited on silicon cantilevers. The technique is sensitive to the cantilever geometry, in particular, to the thickness ratio and width/thickness ratio. Therefore, the precision in the determination of the latter quantities determines the accuracy on the extracted elastic mismatch strain and elastic modulus. The method can be potentially applied to films as thin as a few nanometers.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès libre
Publication date 2016
Language Anglais
Journal information "Review of Scientific Instruments" - Vol. 87, no.1, p. 015002 (2016)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher American Institute of Physics
issn 0034-6748
e-issn 1089-7623
Publication status Publié
Affiliations UCL - SST/IMMC/IMAP - Materials and process engineering
UCL - SST/ICTM/ELEN - Pôle en ingénierie électrique
Links
  1. Ohring M., Reliability and Failure of Electronic Materials and Devices (1998)
  2. Freund L. B., Thin Film Materials: Stress, Defect Formation and Surface Evolution (2003)
  3. Pantano Maria F., Espinosa Horacio D., Pagnotta Leonardo, Mechanical characterization of materials at small length scales, 10.1007/s12206-011-1214-1
  4. Nanostructured Thin Films and Coatings : Mechanical Properties, ISBN:9781420094022, 10.1201/b11764
  5. Springer Handbook of Nanotechnology, ISBN:9783642025242, 10.1007/978-3-642-02525-9
  6. Thornton John A., Hoffman David W., Internal stresses in titanium, nickel, molybdenum, and tantalum films deposited by cylindrical magnetron sputtering, 10.1116/1.569113
  7. Hoffman D.W., Thornton John A., Internal stresses in sputtered chromium, 10.1016/0040-6090(77)90137-7
  8. Clyne T. W., Gill S. C., Residual Stresses in Thermal Spray Coatings and Their Effect on Interfacial Adhesion: A Review of Recent Work, 10.1007/bf02645271
  9. Measurement of Residual and Applied Stress Using Neutron Diffraction, ISBN:9789401052429, 10.1007/978-94-011-2797-4
  10. Machunze R., Janssen G.C.A.M., Stress and strain in titanium nitride thin films, 10.1016/j.tsf.2009.04.020
  11. Gheeraert E., Deneuville A., Bonnot A.M., Abello L., Defects and stress analysis of the Raman spectrum of diamond films, 10.1016/0925-9635(92)90157-j
  12. O Mahony Conor, Hill Martin, Brunet Magali, Duane Russell, Mathewson Alan, Characterization of micromechanical structures using white-light interferometry, 10.1088/0957-0233/14/10/310
  13. Boé A., Safi A., Coulombier M., Pardoen T., Raskin J.-P., Internal stress relaxation based method for elastic stiffness characterization of very thin films, 10.1016/j.tsf.2009.06.062
  14. Stoney G. G., The Tension of Metallic Films Deposited by Electrolysis, 10.1098/rspa.1909.0021
  15. Janssen G.C.A.M., Abdalla M.M., van Keulen F., Pujada B.R., van Venrooy B., Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Stoney equation for film stress: Developments from polycrystalline steel strips to single crystal silicon wafers, 10.1016/j.tsf.2008.07.014
  16. Van Overmeere Q., Vanhumbeeck J.-F., Proost J., On the use of a multiple beam optical sensor for in situ curvature monitoring in liquids, 10.1063/1.3385432
  17. Min Young-Hoon, Kim Yong-Kweon, In situmeasurement of residual stress in micromachined thin films using a specimen with composite-layered cantilevers, 10.1088/0960-1317/10/3/303
  18. Laconte J., Iker F., Jorez S., André N., Proost J., Pardoen T., Flandre D., Raskin J.-P., Thin films stress extraction using micromachined structures and wafer curvature measurements, 10.1016/j.mee.2004.07.003
  19. Iker Franois, Andre Nicolas, Pardoen Thomas, Raskin Jean-Pierre, Three-Dimensional Self-Assembled Sensors in Thin-Film SOI Technology, 10.1109/jmems.2006.886002
  20. Hemker K.J., Sharpe W.N., Microscale Characterization of Mechanical Properties, 10.1146/annurev.matsci.36.062705.134551
  21. Gaspar Joao, Schmidt Marek, Held Jochen, Paul Oliver, Reliability of MEMS Materials: Mechanical Characterization of Thin-Films using the Wafer Scale Bulge Test and Improved Microtensile Techniques, 10.1557/proc-1052-dd01-02
  22. Tsuchiya Toshiyuki, Tabata Osamu, Sakata Jiro, Taga Yasunori, Tensile Testing of Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Films Using Electrostatic Force Grip., 10.1541/ieejsmas.116.441
  23. Prakash Vikas, Kaul Pankaj B., Park Jungkyu, Bifano Michael F. P., A novel device for in-situ nanomechanics of 1-D nanostructures, 10.1007/s11837-011-0157-4
  24. Kiener D., Grosinger W., Dehm G., Pippan R., A further step towards an understanding of size-dependent crystal plasticity: In situ tension experiments of miniaturized single-crystal copper samples, 10.1016/j.actamat.2007.10.015
  25. Passi Vikram, Bhaskar Umesh, Pardoen Thomas, Sodervall Ulf, Nilsson Bengt, Petersson Goran, Hagberg Mats, Raskin Jean-Pierre, Note: Fast and reliable fracture strain extraction technique applied to silicon at nanometer scale, 10.1063/1.3655464
  26. Bhaskar Umesh, Passi Vikram, Houri Samer, Escobedo-Cousin Enrique, Olsen Sarah H., Pardoen Thomas, Raskin Jean-Pierre, On-chip tensile testing of nanoscale silicon free-standing beams, 10.1557/jmr.2011.340
  27. Coulombier M., Guisbiers G., Colla M.-S., Vayrette R., Raskin J.-P., Pardoen T., On-chip stress relaxation testing method for freestanding thin film materials, 10.1063/1.4758288
  28. Griffin Alfred J., Brotzen Franz R., Dunn Clyde F., Mechanical properties and microstructures of Al-1%Si thin film metallizations, 10.1016/0040-6090(87)90095-2
  29. Gravier S., Coulombier M., Safi A., Andre N., Boe A., Raskin J.-P., Pardoen T., New On-Chip Nanomechanical Testing Laboratory - Applications to Aluminum and Polysilicon Thin Films, 10.1109/jmems.2009.2020380
  30. Small Martha K., Daniels Brian J., Clemens Bruce M., Nix William D., The elastic biaxial modulus of Ag–Pd multilayered thin films measured using the bulge test, 10.1557/jmr.1994.0025
  31. Orthner M. P., Rieth L. W., Solzbacher F., High speed wafer scale bulge testing for the determination of thin film mechanical properties, 10.1063/1.3427493
  32. Kim Hyung-Jun, Kweon Young-Gak, Elastic modulus of plasma-sprayed coatings determined by indentation and bend tests, 10.1016/s0040-6090(98)01491-6
  33. Oliver W.C., Pharr G.M., Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology, 10.1557/jmr.2004.19.1.3
  34. Saha Ranjana, Nix William D., Effects of the substrate on the determination of thin film mechanical properties by nanoindentation, 10.1016/s1359-6454(01)00328-7
  35. Chen Xi, Vlassak Joost J., Numerical study on the measurement of thin film mechanical properties by means of nanoindentation, 10.1557/jmr.2001.0408
  36. Li Han, Vlassak Joost J., Determining the elastic modulus and hardness of an ultra-thin film on a substrate using nanoindentation, 10.1557/jmr.2009.0144
  37. LUO J, Young's modulus of electroplated Ni thin film for MEMS applications, 10.1016/j.matlet.2004.02.044
  38. Tai Y.-C., Muller R.S., Measurement of Young's modulus on microfabricated structures using a surface profiler, 10.1109/memsys.1990.110267
  39. Kiesewetter L., Zhang J.-M., Houdeau D., Steckenborn A., Determination of Young's moduli of micromechanical thin films using the resonance method, 10.1016/0924-4247(92)80154-u
  40. Burdess J.S., Harris A.J., Wood D., Pitcher R.J., Glennie D., A system for the dynamic characterization of microstructures, 10.1109/84.650129
  41. Houri S., Bhaskar U., Gallacher B., Francis L., Pardoen T., Raskin J. -P., Dynamic Analysis of Multi-Beam MEMS Structures for the Extraction of the Stress-Strain Response of Thin Films, 10.1007/s11340-012-9654-9
  42. Alfano Marco, Pagnotta Leonardo, A non-destructive technique for the elastic characterization of thin isotropic plates, 10.1016/j.ndteint.2006.10.002
  43. Crowhurst J. C., Hearne G. R., Comins J. D., Every A. G., Stoddart P. R., Surface Brillouin scattering at high pressure: Application to a thin supported gold film, 10.1103/physrevb.60.r14990
  44. Mante P. A., Robillard J. F., Devos A., Complete thin film mechanical characterization using picosecond ultrasonics and nanostructured transducers: experimental demonstration on SiO2, 10.1063/1.2975171
  45. Devos A., Sadtler S., Mante P.-A., Le Louarn A., Emery P., Pushing the limits of acoustics at the nanoscale using femtosecond transient interferometry, 10.1063/1.4903875
  46. Osterberg P.M., Senturia S.D., M-TEST: A test chip for MEMS material property measurement using electrostatically actuated test structures, 10.1109/84.585788
  47. Sadeghian H., Yang C. K., Goosen J. F. L., van der Drift E., Bossche A., French P. J., van Keulen F., Characterizing size-dependent effective elastic modulus of silicon nanocantilevers using electrostatic pull-in instability, 10.1063/1.3148774
  48. Vlassak J.J., Nix W.D., A new bulge test technique for the determination of Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of thin films, 10.1557/jmr.1992.3242
  49. Karimi A, Shojaei O.R, Kruml T, Martin J.L, Characterisation of TiN thin films using the bulge test and the nanoindentation technique, 10.1016/s0040-6090(97)00566-x
  50. Williams K.R., Gupta K., Wasilik M., Etch rates for micromachining processing-part II, 10.1109/jmems.2003.820936
  51. Hopcroft Matthew A., Nix William D., Kenny Thomas W., What is the Young's Modulus of Silicon?, 10.1109/jmems.2009.2039697
  52. Taubin G., Estimation of planar curves, surfaces, and nonplanar space curves defined by implicit equations with applications to edge and range image segmentation, 10.1109/34.103273
  53. Finot M., Suresh S., Small and large deformation of thick and thin-film multi-layers: Effects of layer geometry, plasticity and compositional gradients, 10.1016/0022-5096(96)84548-0
  54. Mézin André, Coating internal stress measurement through the curvature method: A geometry-based criterion delimiting the relevance of Stoney's formula, 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2005.06.018
  55. Freund L.B., Substrate curvature due to thin film mismatch strain in the nonlinear deformation range, 10.1016/s0022-5096(99)00070-8
  56. Masters Christine B., Salamon N.J., Geometrically nonlinear stress-deflection relations for thin film/substrate systems, 10.1016/0020-7225(93)90103-2
  57. Salamon N.J., Masters Christine B., Bifurcation in isotropic thinfilm/substrate plates, 10.1016/0020-7683(94)00129-k
  58. Madou M., Fundamentals of Microfabrication (1997)
  59. Martins P., Malhaire C., Brida S., Barbier D., On the determination of Poisson’s ratio of stressed monolayer and bilayer submicron thick films, 10.1007/s00542-009-0822-5
  60. Ren Yuxing, Lam David C.C., Characterizations of elastic behaviors of silicon nitride thin films with varying thicknesses, 10.1016/j.msea.2007.02.096
  61. Tabata Osamu, Kawahata Ken, Sugiyama Susumu, Igarashi Isemi, Mechanical property measurements of thin films using load-deflection of composite rectangular membranes, 10.1016/0250-6874(89)87111-2
  62. Conley Hiram, Lavrik Nickolay V., Prasai Dhiraj, Bolotin Kirill I., Graphene Bimetallic-like Cantilevers: Probing Graphene/Substrate Interactions, 10.1021/nl202562u
Bibliographic reference Favache, Audrey ; Ryelandt, Sophie ; Melchior, Maxime ; Zeb, Gul ; Carbonnelle, Pierre ; et. al. A generic “micro-Stoney” method for the measurement of internal stress and elastic modulus of ultrathin films. In: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 87, no.1, p. 015002 (2016)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/171169