Measuring the surface bonding energy: A comparison between the classical double-cantilever beam experiment and its nanoscale analog

Two experimental implementations of the double-cantilever beam experiment, developed to measure the bonding energy in wafer-bonded semiconductors, are compared for the first time. The comparison is carried out in two material combinations relevant to microelectronics and silicon photonics: Si on an insulator and InP on Si. Although the two implementations differ in the scale of the measured sample area, the measurement conditions, and the step in the fabrication process at which they are applied, they are shown to yield the same values for bonding energy within experimental errors. Both techniques also show the same trend in the evolution of bonding energy when the samples are subjected to annealing.