Polysilicon Tensile Testing With Electrostatic Gripping

Abstract

AbstractTechniques and procedures are described for tensile testing of polysilicon specimens that are 1.5 or 3.5 νm thick and have various widths and lengths. The specimens are fixed to the wafer at one end and have a large free end that can be gripped by electrostatic forces. This enables easy handling and testing and permits the deposition of 18 specimens on a one-centimeter square portion of a wafer. The displacement of the free end is monitored, which allows one to extract Young's modulus from the force-displacement record. Some of the wider specimens have two gold lines applied so that strain can be measured interferometrically directly on the specimen to record a stress-strain curve.The specimens were produced at the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (MCNC). When compared with earlier results of wider MCNC specimens that were 3.5 μm thick, the Young's modulus is smaller and the strength is slightly larger.