Mechanical characterization of chemical-vapor-deposited polycrystalline 3C silicon carbide thin films

A promising material for microelectromechanical system devices is silicon carbide (SiC) because of its excellent thermal, mechanical and chemical properties. In this study, nanoindentation was first used to evaluate the elastic properties and homogeneity of a polycrystalline 3C–SiC film. Subsequently, free-standing film curvature measurements were used to evaluate the residual stresses in the film. The Young’s modulus was found to be 373 ± 39 GPa and the residual stress was 26.9 ± 1.7 MPa.