A cohesive zone model for the failure assessment of V-notches in micromechanical components

V-notches, which may frequently occur in micromechanical components made of singlecrystalline silicon due to the manufacturing process, may be the failure locus under mechanical loading. Basing on the Stroh formalism the singular near tip stress field around a V-notch stress intensity factors which only depend on the loading and the specimen geometry for a specified material orientation and notch opening angle. The failure can be predicted by comparing the notch tip stress intensity factor A1 with the notch toughness A(1C). By means of the experimentally determined notch toughness values the V-notched silicon structural components can in principal be designed.