Round-Robin Tests of Modulus and Strength of Polysilicon

The Young's modulus and strength of polysilicon specimens manufactured in the same production run were measured in four different laboratories. Specimens subjected to in-plane bending were tested at U. C. Berkeley and at Failure Analysis Associates, and tensile measurements were made at Caltech and Johns Hopkins. All specimens were produced at the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (MCNC). In bending, the Young's modulus for specimens nominally 2 µm thick was measured as 174 GPa and 137 GPa; whereas in tension, a value of 132 GPa was obtained. Modulus values of 136 GPa and 142 GPa were measured in tension on specimens nominally 1.5 µm and 3.5 µm thick. Strengths of the brittle polysilicon were 2.8 and 2.7 GPa in bending and 1.3 GPa for both thicknesses in tension. These preliminary results were presented at Symposium N - Microelectromechanical Structures for Materials Research at the Materials Research Society meeting in April 1998. This paper is a short overview of the test methods — each of which is described elsewhere — and a documentation of the results presented at that time.