High-cycle fatigue of micromachined single-crystal silicon measured using high-resolution patterned specimens

Abstract

A single-crystal silicon fatigue test structure was fabricated using high-resolution lithography to improve smoothness and morphological uniformity. An on-chip test structure, including a notched test piece, a resonator, an electrostatic actuator and a deflection sensor, was fabricated using 0.6 µm resolution lithography. Fatigue tests were performed under different deflection amplitudes and humidity conditions. The lifetime scattering was limited nearly within 1 order at each condition, and this was a large improvement over other reported studies. Our test results indicated a clear tendency for the lifetime to lengthen when the strain amplitude or ambient humidity was decreased. Strain–life behaviors at two different humidity conditions were analyzed using Paris law and crack propagation exponents of 19.6 and 23.0 were obtained at 50%RH and 25%RH, respectively. A humidity dependence was clearly confirmed by the results of our low-scattering experiment. Moreover, for this measurement, a new parallel test system was built in which fatigue tests on up to 12 samples could be performed simultaneously. The drive circuit, which enables a deflection-controlled fatigue test, is described and its performance was demonstrated.