Steady-state and dynamic measurements of damage generation in silicon due to sliding contact

A study of the surface and subsurface damage of semiconductor materials was carried out using scratch tests that simulate very large scale integrated circuit (VLSI) processing. Various experimental parameters such as temperature, type of dopant, load, silicon surface orientation, scratch direction and number of scratches were used in the scratch tests.;The electrical voltage measurement technique provides information on not only the steady state, but also the time dependent generation of mechanical damage in silicon during scratching. The result shows that the relative steady state change in voltage and the dynamic change in voltage are related to the damage size and the damage kinetics respectively. The steady state and dynamic models are discussed.;An electrical voltage measurement (four point probe technique) was used to quantify the scratch damage and analyze the damage kinetics. Three kinds of measurements were carried out: calibration measurement, steady-state measurement and dynamic measurement. A special printed circuit that simulates four point probe technique was designed and fabricated on silicon wafers for dynamic measurement.