Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik

MM 37: Mechanical Properties II

MM 37.1: Talk

Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 14:45–15:00, H16

An alternative way to determine Young’s modulus of thin films — •Matthias Herrmann and Frank Richter — Institute of Physics, Chemnitz University of Technology, 09107 Chemnitz, Germany

An extension for the original approach of Pharr’s and Bolshakov’s effective indenter concept given by Schwarzer (J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 37 (2004) p.2761) allows one to apply linear elastic contact solutions for layered half spaces to actual elastic-plastic indents and, hence, might be taken into account as an alternative way to analyze the elastic response of thin films. In this contribution, it is discussed to what extent the effective indenter concept can be used to determine Young’s modulus of a thin film. Therefore, a thermally grown SiO₂ film and a-C:H films deposited by PECVD were exemplarily used. For each sample, elastic-plastic load-depth curves (Berkovich) for a series of varying maximum loads were analyzed in order to realize the effective indenter approach for data of varying contact depth to film thickness ratio. The modulus values obtained in this way were in reasonable agreement to those obtained by elastic spherical indentations if the contact depth to film thickness ratio was sufficiently low. Physical mechanisms are discussed as reasons for the deviation obtained at higher contact depths.