Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 October 2017
The study aims to estimate the stress-strain constitutive behavior of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) observed in a solder interconnect from experimental nanoindentation responses through a modified analysis procedure for improved solution robustness based on Cheng and Cheng's and Dao et al.'s models. On the basis of parametric finite element nanoindentation simulation and dimensional analysis together with the concept of representative strain, a set of universal dimensionless functions are established, by which a forward and reverse analysis algorithm are created to predict nanoindentation responses from given elastoplastic properties and vice versa, respectively. The proposed analysis procedure is validated through comparison with the experimental nanoindentation responses and limited literature data. The results show that the proposed analysis procedure is an effective means for plastic property characterization of micro/nanoscale IMCs. The representative strain is found to be 0.056, which differs from the Dao et al.'s and Giannakopoulos and Suresh's estimate. Besides, though generally brittle and hard in nature, the IMCs in a micro/nanoscale thickness show high plasticity, and comprise a yield strength surpassing most typical engineering metals.