Evaluation of Elastic Properties for Nanoscale Coating Layers Using Ultrasonic Atomic Force Microscopy

Abstract

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACTArticle history:Ultrasonic atomic force microscopy (Ultrasonic-AFM) has been used to investigate the elastic property of the ultra-thin coating layer in a thin-film system. The modified Hertzian theory was applied to predict the contact resonance frequency through accurate theoretical analysis of the dynamic characteristics of the cantilever. We coat 200 nm thick Aluminum and Titanium thin films on the substrate using the DC Magnetron sputtering method. The amplitude and phase of the contact resonance frequency of a vibrating cantilever varies in response to the local stiffness constant. Ultrasonic-AFM images were obtained using the variations in the elastic property of the materials. The morphology of the surface was clearly observed in the Ultrasonic-AFM images, but was barely visible in the topography. This research demonstrates that Ultrasonic-AFM is a promising technique for visualizing the distribution of local stiffness in the nano-scale thin coatings.