Studies on the Residual Stress and Strain Gradients in Poly-SiGe Nanocantilevers

Abstract

One of the fundamental structural requirements for Micro/Nano-ElectroMechanical (M/NEM) devices is low strain gradient. Measurement of strain gradients is time consuming, therefore finding a simple and fast method is necessary. In this paper, a comparative study of the strain gradients in poly-SiGe nanocantilevers measured experimentally and obtained using finite element modelling (FEM) approach is reported. Arrays of nanocantilevers were fabricated from 100 nm thick poly-SiGe films via lithography. Then, strain gradients were calculated from the tip deflections and cantilevers’ lengths. In the modelling study, similar cantilevers were modelled with COMSOL Multiphysics as superposition of smaller layers in which each layer sustained local stress obtained from stress evolution study. Results showed that the average strain gradients obtained from the experimental and FEM studies differ by ~5% and ~6% for film A and B, respectively with standard deviations lying between ±0.004 and ±0.009/µm. While this study established that stress gradient is responsible for the calculated strain gradient, it also emphasises that both parameters are proportional. Key words: Poly-SiGe, Strain gradient, FEM, COMSOL.