Accurate extraction of the mechanical properties of thin films by nanoindentation for the design of reliable MEMS

An investigation on the mechanical properties of soft magnetostrictive FeCoCr films by nanoindentation

“…Numerous studies have been undertaken in investigating the mechanical properties of a wide range of materials from bulk to amorphous thin films [9], [10]. The mechanical properties of bulk materials are generally measured using the standard tensile and bend test [11], while for thin films in the nanoscale range, the hardness, elastic modulus, and elastic recovery are typically extracted using nanoindentation where loads are measured as a function of penetration depth [12], [13]. However, characterization of mechanical behaviour, particularly for soft magnetostrictive films of FeCo doped with Cr in the nanoscale range, have not been studied.…”

A simple electrical test method to isolate viscoelasticity and creep in capacitive microelectromechanical switches

“…4,7 These effects have been studied in bulk materials by bending or tensile methods; however, these types of tests are unsuitable for the thin films used in MEMS manufacture. Mechanical tests on thin films have been performed using nanoindentation, 8 wafer curvature, 9 bulge testing, 5,7,10 and displacementcontrolled tests 11 to extract the viscoelastic properties of materials. The disadvantages of these methods are (i) the damage caused by contacting a thin film means the experiment is not repeatable in the same location (ii) the information gathered about the material does not give feedback on how a real device will perform, and (iii) in many cases dedicated test structures are required for study.…”

Preliminary Investigation on Young's Modulus Measurement of Cantilever Beam by Integrating Nanoindenter with Optical System

“…For example, ultrasonic technique only measures the Young's modulus of film materials. In comparison, nanoindenter is a powerful tool that can measure several mechanical properties of film materials, 10–15 including (at least) Young's modulus, hardness, frictional coefficient, wearing properties, and fracture properties. Therefore, the nanoindenter has been more utilized to characterize the mechanical behaviors of film materials in a wide range of categories.…”