In-situ cathodoluminescence spectroscopy of silicon oxide thin film under uniaxial tensile loading.

In this paper, in-situ cathodoluminescence (CL) stress analysis of a silicon oxide (SiO(x)) thin film prepared by wet thermal oxidation is described. The specially-developed uniaxial tensile loading jig was used to apply tensile displacement to the SiO(x) film specimen. CL spectra of the specimen during tensile loading were obtained, and the peak position of around 1.85 eV emission band was monitored for tensile stress analysis. The peak position gradually shifted towards higher/lower energy side when tensile displacement increased/decreased. The tensile stress-to-emission energy ratio of 6.21-8.97 x 10(2) GPa/eV was estimated on the basis of linear elastic theory, which demonstrated that CL is able to provide information on stress induced in the film. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the fracture of SiO(x) and SCS laminated structure occurred at the vicinity of SiO(x) film surface.