Characteristics of Ion-Induced Bending Phenomenon

We propose a technique of bending thin films based on the ion-induced bending (IIB) phenomenon that allows the fabrication of three-dimensional device structures and arrays, such as devices for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMSs). We investigated the IIB characteristics with various types of thin films under various ion irradiation conditions. We found that the important parameters of the IIB phenomenon were the depth of ion irradiation and ion dose. We also found that bending curvature could be controlled by the normalized depth of ion implantation and the dose of ions. Microsized regions of vertically standing thin-film arrays that were tens of nanometers thick could be produced with this technique. (c) 2010 The Japan Society of Applied Physics