Experimental study on the dielectrostriction of SiO2 with a micro-fabricated cantilever

The dielectrostriction effect of thermal SiO₂ was experimentally studied in this paper. A beam bending method was used to apply mechanical stresses on the dielectric and the dielectric constant was characterized by the capacitance of a sandwich structure. A model for extracting the dielectrostriction coefficient, M₁₂, was developed and special samples for the measurements were fabricated. According to the measurements the dielectrostriction coefficient, M₁₂, of thermal SiO₂ is -0.19 ± 0.01 × 10^-21m²/V².