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Multiscale modelling framework for the fracture of thin brittle polycrystalline films: application to polysilicon

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Abstract

Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) made of polycrystalline silicon are widely used in several engineering fields. The fracture properties of polycrystalline silicon directly affect their reliability. The effect of the orientation of grains on the fracture behaviour of polycrystalline silicon is investigated out of the several factors. This is achieved, firstly, by identifying the statistical variation of the fracture strength and critical strain energy release rate, at the nanoscopic scale, over a thin freestanding polycrystalline silicon film having mesoscopic scale dimensions. The fracture stress and strain at the mesoscopic level are found to be closely matching with uniaxial tension experimental results. Secondly, the polycrystalline silicon film is considered at the continuum MEMS scale, and its fracture behaviour is studied by incorporating the nanoscopic scale effect of grain orientation. The entire modelling and simulation of the thin film is achieved by combining the discontinuous Galerkin method and extrinsic cohesive law describing the fracture process.

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Notes

  1. These units are modified in the simulation setup to avoid bad conditioning numbers.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from F. R. S. - F. N. R. S. under the project number FRFC 2.4508.11 as well as under the project PDR T.0122.13 “MECANO”. The support of the Belgian Science Policy through the IAP 7/21 project is gratefully acknowledged. Computational resources have been provided by the supercomputing facilities of the “Consortium des Équipements de Calcul Intensif en Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles (CÉCI)” funded by the “Fond de la Recherche Scientifique de Belgique (FRS-FNRS)”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Computational & Multiscale Mechanics of Materials, University of Liege, Chemin des Chevreuils 1, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    Shantanu S. Mulay & Ludovic Noels

  2. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77, Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139-4307, USA

    Gauthier Becker

  3. Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics (ICTEAM), Université catholique de Louvain, Place du Levant, 3, Maxwell Building, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Renaud Vayrette & Jean-Pierre Raskin

  4. Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Sainte Barbe 2, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Thomas Pardoen

  5. CIC Energigune, Albert Einstein 48, 01510, Miñano, Álava, Spain

    Montserrat Galceran

  6. Materials Engineering, Characterization, Synthesis and Recycling, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Av. FD Roosevelt CP194/03, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Montserrat Galceran & Stéphane Godet

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  1. Shantanu S. Mulay
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  2. Gauthier Becker
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  8. Ludovic Noels
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Correspondence to Ludovic Noels.

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Mulay, S.S., Becker, G., Vayrette, R. et al. Multiscale modelling framework for the fracture of thin brittle polycrystalline films: application to polysilicon. Comput Mech 55, 73–91 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00466-014-1083-4

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