Ak. Jamting et al., INVESTIGATION OF THE ELASTIC-MODULUS OF THIN-FILMS USING SIMPLE BIAXIAL BENDING TECHNIQUES, Thin solid films, 308, 1997, pp. 304-309
The increasing use of thin films in numerous applications has raised t
he interest in the mechanical behavior of thin films; particularly the
hardness and thr elastic modulus of these films. The aim of the prese
nt study is to evaluate a simple biaxial bending technique to measure
the elastic modulus of films with thicknesses ranging from 0.1 to 2 mu
m. In this range, it can be difficult to use simple indentation techn
iques owing to the influence of the substrate, and in order to determi
ne the performance of these systems it is often essential to be able t
o determine the elastic modulus unambiguously. Tests have been carried
out on glass substrates, and magnetron sputtered metal films (copper
and aluminium) have been deposited on glass discs to evaluate the film
properties. The samples were loaded in biaxial flexure using a paint
load on the disc supported by three point supports. The bending appara
tus uses a commercially available micromechanical probe (UMIS 2000) th
at enables the measurement of very low loads and small displacements.
Comparison is made between the force-displacement response of the disc
with and without the sputtered film. Analysis of the bending response
gave values of the elastic modulus for the glass discs of E = 54.7 +/
- 0.4 GPa, while E = 116 +/- 8 Cpa for the copper films and E = 84 +/-
5 Cpa for the aluminium films. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.