Deformation analysis in microstructures and micro-devices

The mechanical behaviors of microstructures and micro-devices have drawn the attention from researchers on materials and mechanics in recent years. To understand the rule of these behaviors, the deformation measurement techniques with micro/nanometer sensitivity and spatial resolution are required. In this paper, a micro-marker identification method is developed to measure microstructure deformation. The micro-markers were directly produced on the top surface of microstructures by taking advantage of ion milling of focused ion beam (FIB) system. Based on the analysis of marker images captured by electronic microscope with specific correlation software, the deformation information in microstructures can be easily obtained. The principle of the technique is introduced in detail in the paper. An example experiment was executed to measure the displacement and strain distribution in a MEMS device. Obtained results show that the technique can be well applied to the deformation measurement of the micro/nano-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS/NEMS). 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.