Very low dose ion-implantation effect on heteroepitaxial 3C-SiC mechanical properties

Abstract

Cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) is regarded as a promising candidate for high-power and high-frequency devices application. In order to control and modify locally the cantilever bending, or the resonant frequency of the microstructures (as required for sensor development), the dependence of mechanical properties of 3C-SiC film with the defect density (artificially induced by ion implantation) was investigated. Freestanding cantilevers were used to evaluate the mechanical properties and the residual stress of implanted SiC film. The microstructures were implanted with a very low dose of Si + ions at 80 keV, using high-voltage implantation system. The beam deflection from the initial position, the modification of fundamental resonant frequency and the micro-Raman phonon mode maps were used to correlate the variation of Young's modulus with the induced defects. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.