We had a similar question recently regarding a thick nickle layer. One person suggested depositing the same film on the back side (if possible) in order to compensate. -Mike >>> ronaldcaldwell@worldnet.att.net 8/21/2003 1:14:24 PM >>> You say "huge". What is the actual stress value? I measure 13e^10 dyne/cm^2 on my wafers. Ron -----Original Message----- From: mems-talk-bounces+ronaldcaldwell=worldnet.att.net@memsnet.org [mailto:mems-talk-bounces+ronaldcaldwell=worldnet.att.net@memsnet.org]On Behalf Of Justin Borski Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 5:28 PM To: 'General MEMS discussion' Subject: [mems-talk] stress relaxation by backside etch? Hello, I have an application where I have deposited a very thick film of metal on the front side of my silicon wafer and then wish to process it through a number of additional steps near the end of the process flow, but the problem is that the sheet-deposited film stress is so huge that it induces over 200-microns of wafer bow, compressive. With so much bow on the wafer, none of my process tools want to pick the wafer up during the proceeding steps. My question is, is there some method of performing a backside process to cause the film/wafer combination to relax somewhat to a lower wafer bow, to better allow for vacuum-arm wafer pickup? I think annealing is not an option due to the nature of the metal film; it will only become more compressive at the temperatures I could anneal. Thanks for any thoughts, - Justin Justin C. Borski MEMS Program Manager Advanced MicroSensors Inc. jborski@advancedmicrosensors.com www.advancedmicrosensors.com _______________________________________________ MEMS-talk@memsnet.org mailing list: to unsubscribe or change your list options, visit http://mail.mems-exchange.org/mailman/listinfo/mems-talk Hosted by the MEMS Exchange, providers of MEMS processing services. Visit us at http://www.memsnet.org/ _______________________________________________ MEMS-talk@memsnet.org mailing list: to unsubscribe or change your list options, visit http://mail.mems-exchange.org/mailman/listinfo/mems-talk Hosted by the MEMS Exchange, providers of MEMS processing services. Visit us at http://www.memsnet.org/