A New 'Wrinkle' in Nanometrology

Published

November 1, 2004

Author(s)

Christopher M. Stafford

Abstract

Nanotechnology promises to revolutionize a growing set of materials applications ranging from electronics to drug delivery to ballistic protection. However, the quest to engineer mate-rials on the nanoscale (e.g., in the form of ultrathin films) is met with the daunting task of measuring the physical and mechanical properties of these systems.Familiar techniques for measuring the mechanical properties of nanomaterials, such as nanoindentation, require expensive instrumentation, and can be time-consuming. Moreover, often these methods are challenged by ultrathin films, soft materials (e.g., polymers) and struc-tured materials (e.g., nanocomposites). To overcome these obstacles, we developed a straight-forward, robust measurement platform for probing the mechanical modulus (i.e., stiffness) of thin films and coatings materials. Moreover, as seen below, this measurement technique is extremely rapid, making it useful characterization tool for combinatorial and high-throughput materials research.

Citation

Optical Engineering Magazine

Volume

16(11)

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

buckling, combinatorial methods, mechanical properties, nanometrology, nanotechnology, polymer, SIEBIMM, thin films, wrinkling

Citation

Stafford, C. (2004), A New 'Wrinkle' in Nanometrology, Optical Engineering Magazine, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=852408 (Accessed October 11, 2025)