Fracture Analysis of a-SiC:H Membranes after Thermal Annealing☆

Abstract In this study, fracture analysis of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) membranes deposited by inductively coupled plasma enhanced (ICP) CVD is performed using a bulge test approach. It is shown, that a thermal post-deposition annealing results in a significantly increased fracture strength of the membranes due to the formation of additional Si-C bonds in the material. The residual stress at burst is higher compared to similar thin films deposited by different techniques and even close to polycrystalline SiC thin films, demonstrating the outstanding potential of ICP-CVD deposited a-SiC:H thin films for the realization of robust MEMS devices.