Internal stress and elastic modulus measurements on micromachined 3C-SiC thin films

Fabrication of epitaxial 3C-SiC microstructures by bulk micromachining of the underlying silicon substrate was investigated. Initial studies of the mechanical properties of epitaxial 3C-SiC films deposited on silicon were carried out on microstructures fabricated by bulk micromachining of the silicon substrate to evaluate the potential of these films for micromechanics. Residual stress and biaxial modulus of 3C-SiC films were measured by load-deflection measurements of suspended diaphragms. The film's residual stress was tensile with an average of 212 MPa, while the in-plane biaxial modulus averaged 441 GPa.