In situmeasurement of residual stress in micromachined thin films using a specimen with composite-layered cantilevers

A new concept of measuring residual stress in micromachined thin films using a specimen with composite-layered cantilevers is proposed. The reliable fabrication process of a composite-layered cantilever and its corresponding modeling are introduced and tested. A few errors that may exist in the previous measurements can be removed by using the proposed method. The residual stress of an additional thin film is obtained by comparing the deflections of the states before and after the deposition of the additional film. Since the structure and fabrication processes described in this paper are widely used in surface micromachining, in situ measurement can be undertaken easily and simply by using the proposed method and a specimen for measurement.