P. Mounaix et al., MICROMACHINING AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF GAINAS INP MICROCANTILEVERS/, Materials science & engineering. B, Solid-state materials for advanced technology, 51(1-3), 1998, pp. 258-262
Micro cantilever beams have been fabricated by selective wet etching o
f GaInAs/InP heterostructures with InP layer used as a sacrificial lay
er and GaInAs regions acting as semiconductor masks and/or etch stop l
ayers. With deep front side micromachining, microstructures of one mic
ron thick were fabricated and subsequently characterized by means of a
nanoindentation system. For GaInAs microstructures, a Young's modulus
between 70 and 100 GPa range depending on analysis assumptions was ca
lculated. For tri-layered structures with one micron thick sacrificial
layer, we faced the problem of stiction. For addressing this issue, w
e fabricated several series of beam sets which differ mainly in length
and width. A critical length corresponding to the transition between
pinned and self-sustaining structures was found and subsequently analy
sed in terms of Young's modulus with values consistent with mechanical
measurements. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.