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Direct Measurements of Fracture Toughness and Crack Growth in Polysilicon MEMS

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Abstract

Direct measurements of Mode-I critical stress intensity factor and crack tip displacements were conducted in the vicinity of atomically sharp edge cracks in polycrystalline silicon MEMS using our in situ Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)/Digital Image Correlation (DIC) method. The average Mode-I critical stress intensity factor for various fabrication runs was 1.00 ±0.1 MPaw. The experimental crack tip displacement fields were in very good agreement with linear elastic fracture mechanics solutions. By means of an AFM, direct experimental evidence of incremental crack growth in polycrystalline silicon was obtained for the first time via spatially resolved crack growth measurements. The incremental crack growth in brittle polysilicon is attributed to its locally anisotropic polycrystalline structure which also results in different local and macroscopic (apparent) stress intensity factors.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) through grant F49620-03-1-0080 with Dr. B.L. Lee as monitor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    I. Chasiotis & K. Jonnalagadda

  2. Materials Science and Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    S.W. Cho

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  1. I. Chasiotis
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  2. S.W. Cho
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  3. K. Jonnalagadda
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Chasiotis, I., Cho, S. & Jonnalagadda, K. Direct Measurements of Fracture Toughness and Crack Growth in Polysilicon MEMS. MRS Online Proceedings Library 854, U10.6 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-854-U10.6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-854-U10.6

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