Influence of Support Compliance and Residual Stress on the Shape of Doubly-Supported Surface-Micromachined Beams
Abstract Doubly-supported surface-micromachined beams are increasingly used to study the mechanical properties of thin films. Residual stresses in the beams cause significant vertical deflections, which affect the performance of these devices. We present here both experimental results for doubly-supported polysilicon surface-micromachined beams, and an elastic model of the devices that takes into account the compliance of the supports and the geometrical non-linear dependence of the vertical deflections on the stress in the beam. An elastic one-dimensional model was used for the beams, and the response of the supports to forces and moments was obtained using Finite Element Method simulations. The model explains a previously observed gradual increase of the maximum vertical deflections of the beams with increasing length at a given constant residual stress, and, in agreement with experimental observations, predicts two stable states for compressively stressed beams: one with the beam bent up, the other down.