Mechanical characterization of suspended GaN microstructures fabricated by GaN-on-patterned-silicon technique

The mechanical properties of high-quality suspended GaN microstructures fabricated by GaN-on-patterned-silicon technique are characterized. Micro-Raman scattering is used to study the stress distribution in the GaN microstructures, and the measured results show that the stress in GaN microbeams decreases 47% when the silicon underneath the microbeams is removed. Microbeam bending test is used to measure the Young's modulus of GaN films grown on silicon (111) substrate, yielding a Young's modulus of 330 GPa. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.