Acoustical methods to determine thin-film and nanoscale mechanical properties

Published

May 31, 2005

Author(s)

Donna C. Hurley, Roy H. Geiss, N Jennett, Malgorzata Kopycinska-Mueller, A Maxwell, Jens Mueller, David T. Read, J Wright

Abstract

We describe two acoustical methods to evaluate the mechanical properties of thin films and nanoscale structures: atomic force acoustic microscopy and surface acoustic wave spectroscopy. The elastic properties of an 800-nm-thick nickel film were examined with both methods as well as nanoindentation and microtensile testing techiques. Values for the indentation modulus M measured in the film's out-of-plane direction and Young's modulus E measured in the in-plane direction were lower than expected for an isotropic, polycrystalline film. The reduction in stiffness was attributed to grain-boundary effects in the nanocrystalline film. Agreement between the measured and predicted values was improved by reducing the Ni elastic moduli by 10-15 %. Using the measured elastic properties to interpret the surface-wave data, we found that the film density was 1-2 % lower than bulk values. Our results illustrate how complementary methods can provide a more complete and physically realistic picture of a film's properties.

Citation

Journal of Materials Research

Volume

20

Issue

5

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

atomic force microscopy, elastic properties, microtensile testing, nanoindentation, surface acoustic waves, thin films

Citation

Hurley, D. , Geiss, R. , Jennett, N. , Kopycinska-Mueller, M. , Maxwell, A. , Mueller, J. , Read, D. and Wright, J. (2005), Acoustical methods to determine thin-film and nanoscale mechanical properties, Journal of Materials Research, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=50075 (Accessed October 17, 2025)