Abstract
Fatigue testing of micromachined single-crystal silicon was performed using a test system that allowed simultaneous testing of multiple samples. The on-chip test structure, including an actuator, was fabricated using 0.6µm resolution lithography to improve the morphological uniformity of the samples. Fatigue test results exhibited a clear tendency for the lifetime to lengthen when the strain amplitude or ambient humidity was decreased. The strain-life relationship at 50%RH was analyzed using the Paris law, and a crack propagation exponent of 19 was obtained.
