Temperature treatment on Silicon Nanowires for reliability studies

Material reliability is among the crucial factors that impact material performances before device applications. In order to predict material reliability, accelerated aging study-a study to predict material shelf life when subjected to temperature, was performed on Silicon Nanowires. We investigated the effects of process conditions on the diameters and the quality of Si NWs using Atomic Force Microscopy. The experimental results revealed diameter of Si NWs has linear relationship with varying temperature. These results are of significant importance and will be a critical design consideration for the manufacture of Nanoelectromechanical systems involving Si NWs.