Hardness Determination of Au Thin Film by Nanoindentation Technique: A Comparative Study on Various Characterizing Methods

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangyang Zhou ◽  
Zhuangde Jiang ◽  
Hairong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Image Method ◽  
Metallic Thin Films ◽  
Constant Modulus ◽  
Sem Image ◽  
Pile Up ◽  
Traditional Area ◽  
Hard Substrates ◽  
Au Thin Film

The purpose of this paper is to find a reliable method for determining the hardnesses of soft metallic thin films on hard substrates. Based on the nanoindention experimental data for a 504 nm Au thin film deposited on glass substrate system, several possible methods are applied and the results come from them are compared. The results reveal that the Oliver-Pharr method is strongly influenced by the material pile-up behavior and substrate effect that leads to an erroneously overestimated hardness. However, the methods based on traditional area calculations by SEM image, work of indentation principles during the indentation cycle and constant modulus assumption calculations all can effectively avoid the effect of pile-up and minimize that of substrate. Among three, the results from indentation method are obviously much higher than those from other two. Hence we argue that the results by SEM image method and constant modulus assumption calculations are more reasonable.

Extraction of Elastic Modulus and Hardness of the Soft Metallic Films on Hard Substrates by Nanoindentation

2007 ◽  
Vol 561-565 ◽  
pp. 2005-2008
Author(s):  
X.Y. Zhou ◽  
Hai Rong Wang ◽  
Zhuang De Jiang ◽  
Rui Xia Yu
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Elastic Modulus ◽  
Contact Stiffness ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Sem Image ◽  
Sputter Deposited ◽  
Film Substrate ◽  
Hard Substrates

A simple method to extract the intrinsic mechanical properties of the soft metallic thin films on hard substrates by nanoindenation is presented. Utilizing the geometry relationship of residual impressions obtained by the SEM image and the cross-sectional profile, the pile up error in elastic modulus determination of soft thin films by the Oliver and Pharr analysis is first corrected. Knowledge of the ‘true’ elastic modulus, the ‘true’ hardness of thin film is then extracted from the measured contact stiffness data for an elastically homogeneous film-substrate system. The present method is applied for a 504 nm Au thin film sputter deposited on the glass substrate and the results show that the ‘true’ elastic modulus and hardness of Au film are 80 GPa and 1.3 GPa, which are in agreement well with the literatures.

Determination of Stoichiometry of GaAs Component in (Gaas)Ge Epitaxially Grown Thin Films by Electron Microprobe X-Ray Analysis

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-265
Author(s):  
D. R. Liu ◽  
S. S. Shinozaki ◽  
R. J. Baird
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Compound Semiconductors ◽  
Energy Dispersive Analysis ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Metastable Alloys ◽  
Lower Voltage

The epitaxially grown (GaAs)Ge thin film has been arousing much interest because it is one of metastable alloys of III-V compound semiconductors with germanium and a possible candidate in optoelectronic applications. It is important to be able to accurately determine the composition of the film, particularly whether or not the GaAs component is in stoichiometry, but x-ray energy dispersive analysis (EDS) cannot meet this need. The thickness of the film is usually about 0.5-1.5 μm. If Kα peaks are used for quantification, the accelerating voltage must be more than 10 kV in order for these peaks to be excited. Under this voltage, the generation depth of x-ray photons approaches 1 μm, as evidenced by a Monte Carlo simulation and actual x-ray intensity measurement as discussed below. If a lower voltage is used to reduce the generation depth, their L peaks have to be used. But these L peaks actually are merged as one big hump simply because the atomic numbers of these three elements are relatively small and close together, and the EDS energy resolution is limited.

Problems in Thin-Film X-ray Quantification

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 458-459
Author(s):  
J N Chapman ◽  
W A P Nicholson
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Specimen Thickness ◽  
X Rays ◽  
Characteristic Peak ◽  
Local Composition ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Measured Ratio ◽  
Path Lengths ◽  
Composition Changes

Energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis (EDX) is widely used for the quantitative determination of local composition in thin film specimens. Extraction of quantitative data is usually accomplished by relating the ratio of the number of atoms of two species A and B in the volume excited by the electron beam (nA/nB) to the corresponding ratio of detected characteristic photons (NA/NB) through the use of a k-factor. This leads to an expression of the form nA/nB = kAB NA/NB where kAB is a measure of the relative efficiency with which x-rays are generated and detected from the two species.Errors in thin film x-ray quantification can arise from uncertainties in both NA/NB and kAB. In addition to the inevitable statistical errors, particularly severe problems arise in accurately determining the former if (i) mass loss occurs during spectrum acquisition so that the composition changes as irradiation proceeds, (ii) the characteristic peak from one of the minority components of interest is overlapped by the much larger peak from a majority component, (iii) the measured ratio varies significantly with specimen thickness as a result of electron channeling, or (iv) varying absorption corrections are required due to photons generated at different points having to traverse different path lengths through specimens of irregular and unknown topography on their way to the detector.

Scanning-probe microscope analysis of optical thin films: A new analytical tool in a manufacturing environment

1994 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 1068-1069
Author(s):  
S. P. Sapers ◽  
R. Clark ◽  
P. Somerville
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Thermal Control ◽  
Scanning Probe Microscope ◽  
Scanning Probe ◽  
List Type ◽  
Manufacturing Environment ◽  
Physical Measurements ◽  
Probe Microscope

OCLI is a leading manufacturer of thin films for optical and thermal control applications. The determination of thin film and substrate topography can be a powerful way to obtain information for deposition process design and control, and about the final thin film device properties. At OCLI we use a scanning probe microscope (SPM) in the analytical lab to obtain qualitative and quantitative data about thin film and substrate surfaces for applications in production and research and development. This manufacturing environment requires a rapid response, and a large degree of flexibility, which poses special challenges for this emerging technology. The types of information the SPM provides can be broken into three categories:(1)Imaging of surface topography for visualization purposes, especially for samples that are not SEM compatible due to size or material constraints;(2)Examination of sample surface features to make physical measurements such as surface roughness, lateral feature spacing, grain size, and surface area;(3)Determination of physical properties such as surface compliance, i.e. “hardness”, surface frictional forces, surface electrical properties.

Anisotropy of Nanoindentation – a tool for the determination of nanocrystal orientation ?

2003 ◽  
Vol 779 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Christopher ◽  
Steven Kenny ◽  
Roger Smith ◽  
Asta Richter ◽  
Bodo Wolf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Surface ◽  
Scanning Force Microscopy ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
Dislocation Loops ◽  
Force Microscopy ◽  
Pile Up ◽  
Out Of Plane ◽  
Scanning Force ◽  
Dynamics Simulations

AbstractThe pile up patterns arising in nanoindentation are shown to be indicative of the sample crystal symmetry. To explain and interpret these patterns, complementary molecular dynamics simulations and experiments have been performed to determine the atomistic mechanisms of the nanoindentation process in single crystal Fe{110}. The simulations show that dislocation loops start from the tip and end on the crystal surface propagating outwards along the four in-plane <111> directions. These loops carry material away from the indenter and form bumps on the surface along these directions separated from the piled-up material around the indenter hole. Atoms also move in the two out-of-plane <111> directions causing propagation of subsurface defects and pile-up around the hole. This finding is confirmed by scanning force microscopy mapping of the imprint, the piling-up pattern proving a suitable indicator of the surface crystallography. Experimental force-depth curves over the depth range of a few nanometers do not appear smooth and show distinct pop-ins. On the sub-nanometer scale these pop-ins are also visible in the simulation curves and occur as a result of the initiation of the dislocation loops from the tip.

Application of EDS Technique for OSP Film Thickness Measurement

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prong Kongsubto ◽  
Sirarat Kongwudthiti
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Joint Strength ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Thickness Measurement ◽  
Ic Manufacturing ◽  
And Control ◽  
Film Thickness Measurement ◽  
Non Destructive

Abstract Organic solderability preservatives (OSPs) pad is one of the pad finishing technologies where Cu pad is coated with a thin film of an organic material to protect Cu from oxidation during storage and many processes in IC manufacturing. Thickness of OSP film is a critical factor that we have to consider and control in order to achieve desirable joint strength. Until now, no non-destructive technique has been proposed to measure OSP thickness on substrate. This paper reports about the development of EDS technique for estimating OSP thickness, starting with determination of the EDS parameter followed by establishing the correlation between C/Cu ratio and OSP thickness and, finally, evaluating the accuracy of the EDS technique for OSP thickness measurement. EDS quantitative analysis was proved that it can be utilized for OSP thickness estimation.

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