Flexural vibrations of semiconductor wafers in the presence of a pulsed thermal excitation source

An analysis is made of the action of current pulses on a metal film lying o n a semiconductor wafer. It is shown that the passage of current pulses of amplitude (1-7) X 10(10) A/m(2) and duration 50-200 mu s across aluminum tr acks excites sound. Experimental dependences of the energy of the flexural vibrations as a function of the duration and amplitude of the pulsed action were obtained. It was observed for the first time that the melting of a me tal-semiconductor contact is accompanied by an abrupt increase in the energ y of the flexural vibrations of the wafer. (C) 1999 American Institute of P hysics. [S1063-7850(99)01103-9].