Confirmation on the size-dependence of Young's modulus of single crystal silicon from the TEM tensile tests

With the developed process, four MEMS tensile testing chips of <;110>;-oriented single crystal silicon (SCS) nanobeams were achieved in one SOI wafer with thickness from 45 to 100 nm. Mounting the chips onto a custom made TEM sample holder, which integrated also comb drives and force sensor beam, in-situ TEM tensile tests were carried out. The measured Young's modulus (from 74 Gpa to 178 Gpa) is in agreement well with our previous results of tensile tests in SEM. A simple model was constructed to explain the behaviors of the Young's modulus by tensile tests, resonance tests and pull-in tests since all datas approach to ~75 GPa when the nanobeam's thickness close to 40 nm.