A Novel Measurement Method of Mechanical Properties for Individual Layers in Multilayered Thin Films

Abstract

Various multilayered thin films are extensively used as the basic component of some micro-electro-mechanical systems, requiring an efficient measurement method for material parameters, such as Young’s modulus, residual stress, etc. This paper developed a novel measurement method to extract the Young’s moduli and residual stresses for individual layers in multilayered thin films, based on the first resonance frequency measurements of both cantilever beams and doubly-clamped beams. The fabrication process of the test structure, the corresponding modeling and the material parameter extraction process are introduced. To verify this method, the test structures with gold/polysilicon bilayer beams are fabricated and tested. The obtained Young’s moduli of polysilicon films are from 151.38 GPa to 154.93GPa, and the obtained Young’s moduli of gold films are from 70.72 GPa to 75.34GPa. The obtained residual stresses of polysilicon films are from −14.86 MPa to −13.11 MPa (compressive stress), and the obtained residual stresses of gold films are from 16.27 to 23.95 MPa (tensile stress). The extracted parameters are within the reasonable ranges, compared with the available results or the results obtained by other test methods.