Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:14:04.210Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strength Measurement in Brittle Thin Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Oscar Borrero-Lopez ,
Mark Hoffman ,
Avi Bendavid  and
Phil J Martin
Oscar Borrero-Lopez
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of New South Wales, Sydney, Materials Science and Engineering, School of Materials Science & Engineering, UNSW Gate 2, High Street, Kensington NSW 2052 Australia, Sydney, N/A, Australia
Mark Hoffman
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2025, Australia
Avi Bendavid
Affiliation:
[email protected], CSIRO, Materials Science and Engineering, Lindfield, NSW 2070, Australia
Phil J Martin
Affiliation:
[email protected], CSIRO, Materials Science and Engineering, Lindfield, NSW 2070, Australia
Get access

Abstract

In this work we have investigated the strength variability of brittle thin films (thickness ≤ 1 μm) utilising a simple test methodology. Nanoindentation of as-deposited tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) and Ti-Si-N nanocomposite films on silicon substrates followed by cross-sectional examination of the damage with a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) Miller allows the occurrence of cracking to be assessed in comparison with discontinuities (pop-ins) in the load-displacement curves. Strength is determined from the critical loads at which cracking occurs using the theory of plates on a soft foundation. This is of great relevance, since the fracture strength of thin films ultimately controls their reliable use in a broad range of functional applications.

Keywords

thin filmnanoscalestrength
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1049: Symposium AA – Fundamentals of Nanoindentation and Nanotribology IV , 2007 , 1049-AA03-07
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Chasiotis, I. and Knauss, W. G., Exp. Mech. 42 (2002) 51.Google Scholar
2 Espinosa, H. D., Peng, B., Moldovan, N., Friedmann, T. A., Xiao, X., Mancini, D. C., Auciello, O., Carlisle, J., Zorman, C. A., and Merhegany, M., Appl. Phys. Lett. 89 (2006) 073111.Google Scholar
3 Namazu, T., Isono, Y. and Tanaka, T., J. Microelectromech. S. 9 (2000) 450.Google Scholar
4 Sharpe, W. N. Jr., Yuan, B. and Edwards, R. L., J. Microelectromech. S. 6 (1997) 193.Google Scholar
5 Sundararajan, S. and Bhushan, B., Sensor Actuat. A-Phys. 101 (2002) 338.Google Scholar
6 Tsuchiya, T., Tabata, O., Sakata, J. and Taga, Y., J. Microelectromech. S. 7 (1998) 106.Google Scholar
7 Chai, H., Lawn, B. and Wuttiphan, S., J. Mater. Res. 14 (1999) 3805.Google Scholar
8 Rhee, Y. W., Kim, H. W., Deng, Y. and Lawn, B. R., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 84 (2001) 1066.Google Scholar
9 Borrero-López, O., Hoffman, M., Bendavid, A. and Martin, P. J., Acta Mater. In Press (2008).Google Scholar
10 Kim, J. H., Lee, H. K. and Kim, D. K., Philos. Mag. 86 (2006) 5383.Google Scholar