On-chip testing device for the micromechanical characterization of polysilicon films

Abstract eng:
Due to an increasing miniaturization demand, the characteristic size of moving parts of MEMS devices may become comparable to the material length-scale, i.e. to the average grain size in case of polysilicon films. This can lead to a deviation of the response of the device from the expected one, or to an increased scattering due to stochastic features of the film morphology. In this work, an on-chip test is exploited to assess the effects of film morphology on the overall mechanical response of thin, slender specimens. Different electrostatic actuation/sensing configurations have been designed, to also distinguish the said mechanical effects from those due to overetch. To explain the observed scattering in the MEMS output, two coupled electro-mechanical models of the system have been developed: an analytical reduced-order one, and a numerical one to fully account for the heterogeneity of the film.

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