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2004
Conference Paper
Titel
Materials characterization of micro-devices
Abstract
During the design of ever smaller sized micro-systems, the question appears how much the properties of the materials used differ from those of bulk material and even to laterally extended thin films. The aim of this paper is to analyze mechanical behavior of micro-structured metallic systems like Cu- and Al- interconnections in microelectronic devices or metallic components in micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS). Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) several features like roughness, grain size and dimension accuracy of the materials could be measured for the initial state and in-situ during thermo-mechanical load. For that purpose, meander like line structures produced in CMOS technology as well as special structures fabricated by laterally resolved ion beam sputtering by a focused ion beam equipment (FIB) were used for bending tests. Additionally the elastic and plastic deformation of the lines can be assessed nondestructively by the change of the line resistance measured with high precision. The analysis of the experimental results reveals abnormal plastic-elastic mechanical properties of metallic systems of micro- and sub-micrometer dimension. Practical consequences are discussed concerning the reliability of metallic interconnects, the quality of micro-mirror materials as well as a new approach of micro-material tailoring by surface treatment.
Author(s)