450 JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO.
4, DECEMBER 2000
Evaluation of Size Effect on Mechanical Properties
of Single Crystal Silicon by Nanoscale Bending Test
Using AFM
Takahiro Namazu, Yoshitada Isono, and Takeshi Tanaka
AbstractThis paper describes a nanometer-scale bending test
for a single crystal silicon (Si) fixed beam using an atomic force
microscope (AFM). This research focuses on revealing the size
effect on the mechanical property of Si beams ranging from a
nano- to millimeter scale. Nanometer-scale Si beams, with widths
from 200 to 800 nm and a thickness of 255 nm, were fabricated
on an Si diaphragm by means of field-enhanced anodization using
AFM and anisotropic wet etching. The efficient condition of the
field-enhanced anodization could be obtained by changing the
bias voltage and the scanning speed of the cantilever. Bending
tests for micro- and millimeter-scale Si beams fabricated by
a photolithography technique were also carried out using an
ultraprecision hardness tester and scratch tester, respectively.
Comparisons of Youngs modulus and bending strength of Si
among the nano-, micro-, and millimeter scales showed that the
specimen size did not have an influence on the Youngs modulus
in the 110 direction, whereas it produced a large effect on the
bending strength. Observations of the fractured surface and
calculations of the clack length from Griffiths theory made it
clear that the maximum peak-to-valley distance of specimen
surface caused the size effect on the bending strength. [528]
Index TermsAtomic force microscope (AFM), bending
strength, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM),
nanoscale bending test, size effect, surface roughness, Weibull
parameters, Youngs modulus.
I. INTRODUCTION
S INGLE crystal silicon (Si) is one of the most common mate-
rials in electronic devices and microelectromechanical sys-
tems (MEMS). Understanding Youngs modulus and fracture
strength of Si is very important for the design of electronic de-
vices and MEMS since devices suffer thermal and mechanical
stress during service [1]. The evaluation of the size effect on the
mechanical properties of Si is also significant since very large-
scale integrated (VLSI) circuit and MEMS devices including
on-chip complimentary metaloxidesemiconductor (CMOS)
circuitry are composed of several scaled structures ranging from
nano- to submicrometer scale. Sufficient mechanical properties
derived from a wide range of experiments must be used in the
design of VLSI and MEMS devices.
Tests of MEMS materials have been carried out for evalu-
ating their mechanical properties, but the mechanical properties
Manuscript received January 5, 2000.
The authors are with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty
of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga 525-8577, Japan
(e-mail: sme30197@se.ritsumei.ac.jp; isono@se.ritsumei.ac.jp; ttakeshi@se.
ritsumei.ac.jp).
Publisher Item Identifier S 1057-7157(00)09773-0.
10577157/00$10.00 2000 IEEE
have been estimated only on a micro- and millimeter-scale be-
cause of difficulties in making a nanometer-scale test specimen
and problems associated with measuring ultra-small physical
phenomena in an experiment. Tensile tests [2][6] are superior
in obtaining a stress-strain relation directly, but the specimen
size used in the test has been restricted to a micro- and mil-
limeter-scale specimens due to a difficulty in handling a sample
on a nanometer scale. Bending tests [7][10] are an easier test
method to handle a small size specimen than tensile tests. Jo-
hansson et al. [7], Ericson et al. [8], Wilson et al. [9], and so on
have performed bending tests for Si cantilever beams and have
clarified the effect of surface roughness and crystal orientation
on the fracture strength of the beams. However, the mechanical
properties have not been fully examined over a wide range of
specimen size. For the safe and reliable designs of MEMS com-
ponents, mechanical tests on broad-ranged specimen sizes are
essential.
The objective of this paper is to reveal the specimen size effect
on Youngs modulus and bending strength of single crystal Si
on scales ranging from a nano- to a millimeter. Bending tests for
Si fixed beams on a nanometer scale were carried out using an
atomic force microscope (AFM). Micro- and millimeter-scale
bending tests for Si were also performed using an ultrapreci-
sion hardness tester and scratch tester, respectively. Since single
crystal Si is a brittle material at room temperature, the fracture
probability using Weibull plots will be also discussed. Further-
more, the specimen size effect on the bending strength of Si will
be discussed in the light of observations of the fractured surface
using a field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM).
II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
A. Fabrication of Nanometer-Scale Specimen
The nanometer-scale specimen was an Si fixed beam that
was fabricated by the field-enhanced anodization with an AFM
(Seiko Instruments Inc., SPA-300HV). Field-enhanced anodiza-
tion is a method used to deposit a line of silicon dioxide (SiO )
film with a width of less than 1 m on an Si surface [11][13].
The SiO film was used as the high-precision mask pattern for
the anisotropic wet etching with a solution of 20% tetra-methyl
ammonium hydroxide (TMAH). It was then possible to fab-
ricate a nanometer-scale Si structure after the etching. Fig. 1
shows the fabrication process of the Si beam. The line pattern
of SiO film is drawn by applying the bias voltage between an
Au-coated cantilever and the Si diaphragm in air at room tem-
perature. Here, the diaphragm was etched on the (001) plane of
NAMAZU et al.: SIZE EFFECT ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SINGLE SILICON
Fig. 1. Fabrication process of 200, 300, and 800-nm-wide Si fixed beams using
the field-enhanced anodization with AFM.
Fig. 2. Variation of SiO film thickness with the bias voltage from 4 to 20 V
and with the cantilevers drawing speed from 0.02 to 12.8 m/s.
an Si wafer separated by implanted oxygen (SIMOX) that has
the Si interface with an averaged thickness of 255 nm. In this
paper, in order to find the efficient condition of the field-en-
hanced anodization for making test specimens, the anodization
was carried out by changing the bias voltage from 4 to 20 V and
varying the scanning speed of the cantilever from 0.02 to 12.8
m/s.
Fig. 2 shows the variation of the SiO film thickness with
the bias voltage at each scanning speed of the cantilever. The
film thickness of SiO is proportional to the bias voltage but de-
creases with an increase in the scanning speed. The film thick-
ness reaches about 4 nm at the bias voltage of 13 V and at the
scanning speed of 0.02 m/s. This is a sufficient film thickness
for the TMAH wet etching of the Si interface on the (001) plane
[14]. Fig. 3 depicts the AFM image of SiO lines deposited on
the SIMOX wafer at the bias voltage of 20 V. An intermittent
line is observed at scanning speeds higher than 0.8 m/s in spite
of the highest bias voltage of 20 V. This is caused by jumps of
the cantilever on the wafer, which are attributed to the surface
roughness and the scanning speed. After due consideration of
anodization time and adequate thickness of SiO for the wet
etching, the SiO film was anodized at the bias voltage of 20 V
and at the scanning speed of 0.4 m/s.
451
Fig. 3. AFM image of SiO film anodized on SIMOX wafer at the bias voltage
of 20 V by AFM.
Fig. 4. SEM photographs of Si fixed beams on (a) nanometer scale,
(b) micrometer scale, and (c) millimeter scale. The beam width and thickness
range from 200 to 1.045 mm and from 255 to 520 m, respectively.
Six kinds of specimens were used here in order to reveal the
size effect on mechanical properties of Si. Three kinds of Si
specimens with widths of 200, 300, and 800 nm were fabri-
cated by the field-enhanced anodization as described above. The
other three kinds of specimens on a micro- and millimeter scale
were prepared by a conventional photolithography technique
[15]. The specimens with a width of less than 1 m are defined
as nanometer-scale specimens while specimens with widths of
greater than 1 m, and those with a width of greater than 1
mm are termed micrometer and millimeter-scale specimens, re-
spectively. This terminology helps to make a clear distinction
of specimen scale between the six specimen sizes used in this
paper. Fig. 4(a)(c) shows nano-, micro-, and millimeter-scale
Si beams, respectively, along a schematic of a beam. All of
the beams are oriented along the [110] direction in the (001)
plane. The cross-section of the beam is a trapezoid owing to
the anisotropic wet etching process. The nominal dimensions
452 JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2000

TABLE I
DIMENSIONS OF Si FIXED BEAMS AND DIAMOND TIP RADIUS OF INDENTOR. ETCHING CONDITION: AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION OF 20% TMAH, 90 C

of the Si beams are listed in Table I. The width, length, and

thickness values for each of the beams were measured by the
AFM and a laser microscope (Lasertec Co., 1LM21W) prior to
the bending test. Si beams within 5% error of the dimensions
listed in Table I have been used in the tests.

B. Nanometer-Scale Bending Test with AFM

The AFM was used not only for the field-enhanced an-
odization but also for the bending test on a nanometer scale.
Fig. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of the test procedure. The
width, thickness, and length of the Si beam were measured by
using the AFM before the bending test (Step 1). A diamond tip
mounted on a stainless steel rectangular cantilever was used
for the bending tests. The sensitivity of the cantilever was cali-
brated prior to the bending test (Step 2). The sensitivity is the
ratio of the differential voltage obtained from the cantilevers
vertical deflection to the displacement of the PZT actuator in
the -direction. Here, the differential voltage value is detected
by a built-in laser reflection technique of the AFM. The
nanometer-scale bending test with AFM was carried out using
the diamond tip (Step 3). The tip radius was approximately
100 nm. The bending force and the maximum displacement
in the -direction of the beam were calculated from the
following relations:

(1)
(2)
Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of bending test procedure with AFM.
where
initial differential voltage produced by the de- the principal stress direction during the test. The Youngs mod-
[V] flection of the cantilever prior the bending test; ulus is expressed as
[V] differential voltage during the test;
[N/m] stiffness of the cantilever calculated from the (3)
Youngs modulus of the stainless steel and di-
where
mensions of the cantilever;
beam length;
displacement in the -direction of PZT actu-
moment of inertia for the beam cross-section;
[ m] ator;
gradient of the force-displacement curve during
same as defined above.
bending [16].
[V/ m]
The moment of inertia is calculated from the following equa-
Youngs modulus and bending strength of Si beams were fi-
tion using the upper and lower beam widths and , respec-
nally estimated by equations based on the assumption that the
tively, and the beam thickness
beams follow linear elastic theory of an isotropic material (Step
4). This is due to high specimen length-to-width and length-to-
(4)
thickness ratios and due to the length direction corresponding to
NAMAZU et al.: SIZE EFFECT ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SINGLE SILICON
Fig. 6. Force-displacement curve in bending test for (a) nanometer-scale beam, (b) micrometer-scale beam, and (c) millimeter-scale beam. All beams were bent
to failure.
According to linear elastic theory, the bending strength is
produced at both ends of the fixed beam on the upper surface
and formulated as
(5)
where
maximum bending force;
beam length;
vertical distance between the upper surface and the
neutral plane [16].
is also expressed as
(6)
Since the end of the beam is different from that of an ideal
complete fixed beam, the fracture stress calculated in (5) can be
overestimated by elasticity of the beam end fixed at the silicon
substrate. However, the effect of the end on the fracture stress is
assumed to be small since the variation of the bending moment
near the ends is very small, which is attributed to the specimens
large length-to-width and length-to-thickness ratios. It is also
well known that a support micromachined by the anisotropic
etching may provide elasticity to the system [17]. However, in
this study, the reaction force at the supporting point can be small
because beams with the large length-to-width and length-to-
thickness ratios produce the small bending force, as shown in
(5). Thus, it is assumed here that there is no effect of the elas-
ticity of the supporting point on the mechanical properties.
Micro- and millimeter-scale bending tests were also carried
out for Si beams using an ultra-precision hardness tester
(Shimadzu, DUH200) and a scratch tester manufactured by the
authors, respectively. Cone-shaped diamond tips with a radius
from 1 to 200 m were used in micro- and millimeter-scale
tests, so that the ratio of the specimen width to the tip radius
ranged from 2.0 to 5.23 (Table I).
453
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Bending Test Results
Fig. 6(a)(c) shows force-displacement curves of the beams
during bending tests. All of the beams were bent to failure.
The bending force at the zero displacement before bending in
Fig. 6(a) is due to a preload generated when the cantilever is set
up on the top of the beam. Fig. 6(a)(c) shows the geometric
linear force-displacement curves in fixed beams, whereas the
geometrical nonlinearity has been obtained at the large deflec-
tions in three point bending or cantilever bending tests using a
small-sized specimen [18]. The geometrical nonlinearity is due
to the movement of the supporting or the load point during the
tests. The fixed specimen used here ensures that the supporting
and load points do not change, even if the large deflection is
produced, because of the fixed end and the center load. The geo-
metric linearity in the fixed specimen can therefore be obtained
from the figures. Si beams in the range from a nano- to a mil-
limeter scale also fractured in a brittle manner since the bending
force decreased abruptly at each fracture stress.
The relationships between the specimen size and Youngs
modulus are shown in Fig. 7(a)(c). The Youngs modulus
of the 200-nm-wide nanometer-scale beam averages 169.9
GPa, which is comparable to that of micro- or millimeter-scale
beams. The Youngs modulus does not change with the
specimen width, thickness, and length. There is also small
variation of the scatter in the Youngs modulus [Fig. 7(a)(c)]
since standard deviations range from 1.8 to 7.7. The scatter
band of the Youngs modulus might be caused by a difference
in the orientations of the crystal and the mask line. Therefore,
the Youngs modulus of Si has no specimen size effect in the
range from a nano- to a millimeter scale. This is attributed to
the uniform microstructure of Si regardless of the specimen
size in which the shape of the interatomic energy curve
between Si atoms does not change. Comparing experiments
based on isotropic theory with analytical values calculated
454 JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2000

Fig. 7. Relationship between Youngs modulus and specimen size for (a) upper width w , (b) thickness t, and (c) length l. Standard deviation is 7.037 for
specimen A, 7.740 for specimen B, 1.848 for specimen C, 3.979 for specimen D, 4.786 for specimen E, and 4.542 for specimen F, respectively.

from anisotropic theory [19], a good agreement in Youngs

modulus between the experiments and analyses was obtained.
The agreement supports assumptions described in Section II-B
and also suggests that the elastic effect at the supporting point
of the beams on the Youngs modulus is small.
Fig. 8 shows Weibull plots of the bending strength as a func-
tion of specimen size. Weibull parameters and , the av-
erage bending strength , and the number of test specimens
are also listed in Table II. Here, is the scale parameter corre-
sponding to the bending strength at the fracture probability of
63.2 % and is the shape parameter describing the scatter rate
of the bending strength. The bending strength increases with a
decrease of the specimen size in Fig. 8. The average bending
strength for the 200-nm-wide nanometer scale beam is 17.53
GPa, which is 2.34.7 times larger than the bending strength Fig. 8. Weibull plots of bending strength for Si.
on the micrometer scale and 38 times larger than that on a mil-
limeter scale. The specimen size therefore has large influence
The presence of an internal, surface, or edge crack causes the
on the bending strength of Si. The specimen size also affects
fracture of Si in a brittle manner. If the specimen fractures owing
the scatter of the bending strength since the shape parameter
to an internal crack, the fracture stress has a good correlation
increases with a reduction of the specimen size.
with the effective volume of the specimen. If the fracture is
attributed to a surface or edge crack, the fracture stress is related
B. Specimen Size Effect on Weibull Parameters of Si to the effective surface area or the effective length of the
specimen, respectively [20]. The effective volume, surface area,
Fig. 9(a)(d) shows FE-SEM photographs of fractured and length of the fixed beam with the cross-section of trapezoid
beams. Most of the beams fracture at the ends of the beams are formulated, respectively, as follows:
in a brittle manner, but a beam fracture at a small distance
from the end has been observed in one or two out of ten (7)
specimens [Fig. 9(b) and (d)]. Beam fracture at the center has
not been observed. This is because the maximum tensile stress
(8)
is produced at both ends of the fixed beam.
NAMAZU et al.: SIZE EFFECT ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SINGLE SILICON 455

TABLE II
SCALE AND SHAPE PARAMETERS OF WEIBULL PLOTS FOR EACH SPECIMEN

Fig. 9. FE-SEM photographs of Si beam fractured at the region of fixed ends.

and

(9)

Here, from FE-SEM observations of fractured beams in

Fig. 9(a)(d), tensile stress in the area of length from the
beam end of the beam was used in the analyses of the effective
volume , surface area , and length .
Fig. 10 shows the correlation between the scale parameter ,
effective volume , surface area , and length . The scale
parameter increases with a decrease in the effective volume
. The rate of increase of on a nanometer scale is larger
than that on a micrometer scale. The reduction of the specimen
size on a nanometer scale makes a larger contribution to the in-
crease in the bending strength than that on a micro- and mil-
limeter scale. The rate of increase of alters significantly for
m where the specimen size varies from micro- to
nanometer scale. This can be attributed to the difference in frac-
ture behavior between nano- and micrometer scale. The vari- Fig. 10. Correlation of scale parameter b with specimen size for effective
ation of the scale parameter with a reduction of the effective volume V , effective surface area S , and effective length L .
surface area shows a similar trend to that in relation with the
effective volume . The rate of increase of with decreasing from micro- to nanometer scale. The relationship between the
specimen size varies at m where the size shifts parameter and the effective length is also comparable to
456
Fig. 11. Correlation of shape parameter m with specimen size for effective
volume V , effective surface area S , and effective length L .
TABLE III
CONSTANTS A AND B USED IN (10)
the relation with and , and the rate of increase of has a
transition point at m.
Fig. 11 illustrates the shape parameter as a function of the
effective volume , surface area , and length . The shape
parameter increases gradually with a reduction of the
a micro- and millimeter scale, but it shows a sharp rise on a
nanometer scale. A similar trend is seen when the parameter
plotted against the surface area and length . The scatter of
the bending strength on the nanometer scale decreases abruptly
as compared with that on a micro- and millimeter scale. So, it is
easier to predict the fracture stress of a smaller Si structure on
the nanometer scale. In Figs. 10 and 11, Weibull parameters
and of bending strength for Si beams can be predicted by a
linear function as the following:
where and are constants summarized in Table III and
is the effective volume , surface area , and length . imum peak-to-valley distance - at the top and side surface.
For better understanding the specimen size effect on the bending
strength, SEM micrographs of fractured surfaces were studied.
JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2000
C. FE-SEM Observations
To examine the fracture behavior and the origin of the fracture
in the beams, the fractured surface was observed by FE-SEM
as shown in Fig. 12(a)(d). FE-SEM observations of the frac-
ture surface were carried out for ten beams at each scale (total
of 60 beams). Most of the nanometer-scale beams exhibited
both a tongue shaped surface and a cleavage-fractured surface
[Fig. 12(a) and (b)]. The tongue lies on the upper area above the
neutral plane, while the cleavage surface is observed at the lower
area below the neutral plane. The tongue-shaped surface is gen-
erated by the maximum tensile stress at the upper surface since
it propagates from the upper surface to the neighborhood of the
neutral plane. Then, after formation of the tongue surface, the
cleavage can be produced at an area under the neutral plane. The
fracture of nanometer-scale beams would have initiated from the
upper surface since any latent defect was not observed inside of
the specimen.
The fractured surface of micrometer scale beams has a
smooth surface due to cleavage [Fig. 12(c)]. The tongue, as
shown in Fig. 12(a) and (b), was never observed on microm-
eter-scale beams. A crack is also seen at the upper corner of
the right side. The crack at the vicinity of the beam edge is
attributed to a stepped surface on the side, which is caused by
a misalignment of the mask line with the crystal orientation
of Si. The step would have led to the fracture. The number of
steps on the side surface increases owing to an enlargement of
the wet etching area with an increase in the specimen size. The
number of steps in the highly stressed region of the beam, i.e.,
the near the fixed end, is higher in the case of a longer beam,
so that the fracture stress on a micrometer scale decreases with
increasing specimen size. The fracture on the micrometer scale
would have initiated from the upper edge of the beam.
The fractured surface on the millimeter scale was similar to
that on the micrometer scale [Fig. 12(d)]. Smooth surface due
to a cleavage occupies the fracture surface except for an uneven
surface at the left upper corner. The magnified photograph also
shows a crack at the right upper edge of the beam. The crack at
the edge would have led to the fracture of the millimeter-scale
beam. This difference in the fracture origin between nano-
and micrometer scale would have brought about the abrupt
increasing of Weibull parameters shown in Figs. 10 and 11.
in
From the above discussions, the bending strength of Si is con-
sidered to be due to the surface roughness of the specimen. If
the surface roughness can be regarded as a through crack with
length on the specimen surface, the fracture stress is roughly
calculated as
(11)
from Griffiths theory [21], where is the surface energy of
the crack and is Youngs modulus. For simple consideration,
(10) (11) takes account of only the surface energy of the crack con-
tributed to the crack propagation. Fig. 13 shows the relationship
between the scale parameter , the crack length , and the max-
The crack length was calculated by the substitution of the pa-
rameter to the fracture stress in (11) using GPa
NAMAZU et al.: SIZE EFFECT ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SINGLE SILICON
Fig. 12. FE-SEM observations of fracture surface for Si beams with upper widths of (a) 200 nm, (b) 300 nm, (c) 4.75 m, and (d) 1.045 mm, which were carried
out for ten specimens at each scale (total of 60 specimens).
Fig. 13. Relationship between crack length a estimated by Griffiths theory,
maximum peak-to-valley distance R - , and scale parameter b.
and eV/ estimated from the bonding energy
of Si proposed by Tersoff [22]. The maximum distance - IV. CONCLUSIONS
was measured by the AFM at about 5% area of the top and the
side surface area, respectively. The crack length of nanometer-
scale beams is approximately 13 nm, and it agrees with the
- values at the top surface of nanometer-scale beams. The
crack length of micro- and millimeter-scale beams increases
rapidly with an increase in the specimen size. The crack length
ranges from 10 to 1000 nm and has good correlation with
457
the - at the side surface of the micro- and millimeter-scale
beams. Therefore, following Griffiths theory and considering
the FE-SEM observations in Fig. 12, the bending strength of Si
on the nanometer scale is affected by the - at the top surface,
whereas on the micro- and millimeter scale, bending strength is
affected by the - at the side surface. The bending strength of
Si beams ranging from nano- to millimeter scale is considered
to depend on the maximum peak-to-valley distance of a spec-
imen. The specimen size effect on the bending strength of Si
would have been also produced by a reduction of the maximum
peak-to-valley distance with decreasing specimen size.
This paper suggested that the specimen size effect on the
bending strength of Si could be due to the different surface
roughness of each specimen. However, the essence of the size
effect on the bending strength of Si cannot be concluded until
further experiments using different sized specimens with same
surface condition have been performed.
Bending tests for single crystal Si beams were carried out
by using AFM, a precision hardness tester, and a scratch tester.
Si beams with sizes ranging from nano- to millimeter scale
fractured in a brittle manner in the tests. Youngs modulus on
the nanometer scale averaged 169 GPa, which was equal to
that on the micro- and millimeter scales. Youngs modulus of
458 JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2000

volume , surface area , and length in shaded parts are

derived from the risk of rupture theory proposed by Davies [20].
If the fracture is caused by an inside crack, the risk of rupture
for a fixed beam in the bending test is defined as

(A1)

where and are the scale and shape parameter of the Weibull
plot, respectively. The risk of rupture due to a surface crack is
expressed as

(A2)

If an edge crack causes the fracture of the fixed beam, the risk
of rupture is equated as the following:

(A3)
Fig. 14. Schematics of effective volume, surface area, and length.
By developing (A1)(A3) into the following equations, the
Si beams had no specimen size effect. However, the specimen effective volume , surface area , and length are de-
size produced a large effect on the bending strength since fined:
the bending strength of a nanometer-scale Si beam showed
1118 GPa, which was 2338 times larger than that of a mil-
limeter-scale beam. The decrease in specimen size also resulted and
in a reduction of the scatter in the bending strength values. (A4)
The rate of increase of the scale parameter for nanometer-
scale beams was larger than the for micro- and millimeter scale Here
beams. The shape parameter also showed a sharp rise on a (A5)
nanometer scale. FE-SEM observations showed that the vari-
ation of Weibull parameters with a reduction of the specimen
size from micro- to nanometer scale was attributed to the differ-
ence between the fracture origins on the micro- and nanometer (A6)
scales. Considering the FE-SEM observations and the relation-
ship between the crack length based on Griffiths theory and the and
surface roughness, the fracture in a nanometer scale could be
generated from the top surface, whereas micro- and millimeter (A7)
beams would have fractured from the upper edge of beams. The
crack initiation, which led to the fracture, depended on the sur- The first term in (A6) is the effective surface area for the top
face roughness of the specimen. The crack length calculated surface and the second is for the side surface.
from Griffiths theory was in good agreement with the max-
imum peak-to-valley distance of specimen surface. The increase ACKNOWLEDGMENT
in the bending strength resulted from a reduction of the max- The authors express their gratitude to Y. Isobe, a senior stu-
imum peak-to-valley distance with decreasing specimen size. dent of Ritsumeikan University, for etching specimens in the
experiments. The authors also acknowledge S. Sundararajan of
Ohio State University for extensive discussion on this paper.
APPENDIX
CALCULATION OF THE EFFECTIVE VOLUME , SURFACE
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Takahiro Namazu received the B.S. and M.S. de-
grees in mechanical engineering from Ritsumeikan
University, Shiga, Japan, in 1977 and 1999, respec-
tively, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. de-
gree in mechanical engineering.
His doctoral work involves the development of mi-
crotesting technology and the evaluation of mechan-
ical properties for MEMS materials on a micro- and
nanometer scale.
Yoshitada Isono received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees
in mechanical engineering from Ritsumeikan Univer-
sity, Kyoto, Japan, in 1991 and 1998, respectively.
Since 1991, he has been with Mitsubishi Heavy
Industry, Kyoto. In 1993, he joined the Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Ritsumeikan University,
Shiga, Japan. Since 1999, he has been an Associate
Professor in the university. His research interests are
micro/nanoscale material mechanics for electronic
and MEMS devices. He is currently engaged in the
work of micro/nanoprocess and testing for MEMS
materials using SPM, mechanical property evaluation of thin-films, and
molecular dynamics/orbital simulations of hard coating materials.
Takeshi Tanaka received the B.S. degree in me-
chanical engineering from Ritsumeikan University,
Kyoto, Japan, in 1964 and the M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees in precision engineering from Osaka Univer-
sity, Osaka, Japan, in 1966 and 1969, respectively.
Since 1988, he has been a Professor with the
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of
Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University,
Kyoto. His research interests include the study of
matter at the luminescence machining and precision
grinding. His research also focused on the fabrica-
tion and application of piling-resin grinding wheel and functionally gradient
material. Particular interest is in the nonpollute machining with cool air.
Dr. Tanaka received a prize from the Society of Grinding Engineers, Japan,
for his work in 2000.