Investigation of nanosized structures using internal friction effect

The goal of this work is to study electrically active defects in planar (Si-SiO₂) and isoplanar (Si-SiO₂-Si₃N₄) silicon electret structures by the internal friction Q^–1 method. The Q^–1 set with a reversed pendulum type design is used for research. The activation energies and frequency factors of thermoelastic processes were determined due to the displacement of peaks on the Q^–1 relaxation spectra. Moreover, additional local maxima formed after electrification of structures were found on the temperature dependence Q^–1. It is assumed that this may be due to the interaction of charged particles obtained as a result of irradiation in a corona discharge with capture centers, which are hydride Si-H and hydroxyl Si-OH groups, as well as with deep capture centers at the SiO₂-Si₃N₄ interface. We confirmed that the developed complex research method for determining the main electrophysical parameters of electret structures based on silicon oxide and silicon nitride allows finding optimal approaches to electrifying Si-SiO₂ and Si-SiO₂-Si₃N₄ structures for their practical application as active elements of electret sensors and actuators.