Microtensile tests with the aid of probe microscopy for the study of MEMS materials

Mechanical tests of thin films require novel and sophisticated methods that can address the geometry and microstructure of the films. A new method of micro-tensile testing of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) films has been demonstrated. An improved apparatus has been designed and implemented to measure the elastic tensile properties. (Young's modulus, Poisson's ration and tensile strength) of surface micromachined polysilicon specimans. The tensile specimans are dog-bone shaped ending in a large paddle for convenient electrostatic or, in the improved apparatus, UV adhesive gripping. The test section of the specimens is 400µm long with 2µmx50µm cross section. The method employs Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) acquired surface topologies of deforming specimans to determine (fields of) strain by way of the Digital Image Correlation method (DIC). With this method, high strength of non- linearly behaving materials under different environmental conditions can be tested by measuring the strains directly on the surface of the film with nanometer resolution in in-place and out-of-plane measurements