A rapid and accurate static and quasi-static method for determining the out-of-plane spring constraints of cantilevers and a micromachined vibratory sensor is presented. In the past, much of the effort in nanoindentation application was to investigate the thin-film mechanical properties. In this paper, we have utilized the nanoindentation method to measure directly some micromachined device (e.g. microgyroscope) spring constants. The cantilevers and devices tested were fabricated using the MUMPS process and an SOI process (patent pending). Spring constants are determined using a commercial nanoindentation apparatus UMIS-2000 configured with both Berkovich and spherical indenter tip that can be placed onto the device with high accuracy. Typical load resolution is 20micrometers N to 0.5N and a displacement resolution of 0.05nm. Information was deduced from the penetration depth versus load curves during both loading and unloading.

Date Published: 19 April 2002
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 4755, Design, Test, Integration, and Packaging of MEMS/MOEMS 2002, (19 April 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.462877

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4755:
Design, Test, Integration, and Packaging of MEMS/MOEMS 2002
Bernard Courtois; Jean Michel Karam; Karen W. Markus; Bernd Michel; Tamal Mukherjee; James A. Walker, Editor(s)