Subcritical crack growth in SiNx thin-film barriers studied by electro-mechanical two-point bending
- 5 June 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Journal of Applied Physics
- Vol. 113 (21), 213512
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4809542
Abstract
Mechanical failure resulting from subcritical crack growth in the SiNx inorganic barrier layer applied on a flexible multilayer structure was studied by an electro-mechanical two-point bending method. A 10 nm conducting tin-doped indium oxide layer was sputtered as an electrical probe to monitor the subcritical crack growth in the 150 nm dielectric SiNx layer carried by a polyethylene naphthalate substrate. In the electro-mechanical two-point bending test, dynamic and static loads were applied to investigate the crack propagation in the barrier layer. As consequence of using two loading modes, the characteristic failure strain and failure time could be determined. The failure probability distribution of strain and lifetime under each loading condition was described by Weibull statistics. In this study, results from the tests in dynamic and static loading modes were linked by a power law description to determine the critical failure over a range of conditions. The fatigue parameter n from the power law reduces greatly from 70 to 31 upon correcting for internal strain. The testing method and analysis tool as described in the paper can be used to understand the limit of thin-film barriers in terms of their mechanical properties.Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- Electro-fragmentation analysis of dielectric thin films on flexible polymer substratesThin Solid Films, 2009
- Material challenge for flexible organic devicesMaterials Today, 2006
- Flexible Flat Panel DisplaysPublished by Wiley ,2005
- The effect of defect location on coating fragmentation patterns under biaxial tensionProbabilistic Engineering Mechanics, 2005
- Durability of nanosized oxygen-barrier coatings on polymersProgress in Materials Science, 2003
- The role of initial flaw size, elastic compliance and plasticity in channel cracking of thin filmsThin Solid Films, 2002
- Biaxial fragmentation of thin silicon oxide coatings on poly(ethylene terephthalate)Journal of Materials Science, 2001
- Investigation of the sites of dark spots in organic light-emitting devicesApplied Physics Letters, 2000
- Chemical and morphological stability of aluminum tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq/sub 3/): effects in light-emitting devicesIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 1998
- Adhesion of silicon oxide layers on poly(ethylene terephthalate). I: Effect of substrate properties on coating's fragmentation processJournal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, 1997