Very high-cycle fatigue failure in micron-scale polycrystalline silicon films: Effects of envrionment and surface oxide thickness

D. H. Alsem, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
R. Timmerman, Department of Applied Physics, University of Groningen
B. L. Boyce, Materials Science and Engineering Center, Sandia National Laboratories
E A. Stach, Birck Nanotechnology Center and School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University
J. Th. M. De Hosson, Department of Applied Physics, University of Groningen
R. O. Ritchie, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

Fatigue failure in micron-scale polycrystalline silicon structural films, a phenomenon that is not observed in bulk silicon, can severely impact the durability and reliability of microelectromechanical system devices. Despite several studies on the very high-cycle fatigue behavior of these films