Chul,
  Best guess is that you are suffering from differing film stresses.  I say
this without knowing anything about either of your films, but I am guessing
by your notation  "SiNx" that the silicon nitride is PECVD and the Au is
sputtered.  Deposition conditions of either of these films with have a HUGE
effect on individual film stress.
  Good luck,
Nephi

Nephi Harvey
Engineer
Bionic Technologies, LLC
www.bionictech.com
phone:            801-582-5533
fax:              801-582-1509
voicemail/fax:    801-838-4186



> From: "PARK,CHUL (A-SanJose,ex1)" 
> Reply-To: [email protected]
> Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 10:11:17 -0700
> To: "'[email protected]'" 
> Subject: [mems-talk] How to avoid SiNx crack on plated Au?
>
> Hi
> has anyone encountered a problem of SiNx crack when SiNx is covering plated
> Au?
> Do you know how to avoid this problem? I assume the adhesion between SiNx
> and plated Au is not good in our case but it may be something else. Does
> anyone know why it happens?
>
> Thanks
> Chul Park
> Agilent technology
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