STRESS AND STRUCTURAL IMAGES OF MICROINDENTED SILICON BY RAMAN MICROSCOPY

The microline focus spectrometer (MiFS) Raman imaging process is descr ibed and is used to investigate stress and structure defect patterns i n micro-indented single-crystal silicon. Raman intensity, frequency, a nd bandwidth images are reported with 0.3-mu m pixel resolution, which reveal residual compressive stress distributions around the indentati on site and areas of tensile stress at the crack tips. A previously un reported annular structural defect region, remote from the indent site , is observed in images where the indenter tip edges are aligned with the [110] direction of the silicon crystal.