A novel technique and structure for the measurement of intrinsic stress and Young's modulus of thin films

A novel technique and test structure to measure the intrinsic stress and Young's modulus on thin films with better than 10% accuracy has been developed. The structure is a doubly supported beam that is driven electrostatically by a capacitive drive electrode in the middle of the beam. The characteristic pull-in voltage of the beam is used to measure the intrinsic stress and Young's modulus of thin films. An intrinsic stress of 1.83*10/sup 7/ Pa and a Young's modulus of 2.2*10/sup 11/ Pa for heavily boron-doped silicon structures have been measured. The technique can be easily applied to a number of other thin films including polysilicon and silicon nitride. The test structure occupies a small area.<>