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In situ measurement of bulk modulus and yield response of glassy thin films via confined layer compression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2020

Owen Brazil Open the ORCID record for Owen Brazil [Opens in a new window] ,
Johann P. de Silva ,
Mithun Chowdhury ,
Heedong Yoon ,
Gregory B. McKenna ,
Warren C. Oliver ,
Jason Kilpatrick ,
John B. Pethica  and
Graham L.W. Cross
Owen Brazil
Affiliation:
School of Physics, CRANN & AMBER, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
Johann P. de Silva
Affiliation:
School of Physics, CRANN & AMBER, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
Mithun Chowdhury
Affiliation:
School of Physics, CRANN & AMBER, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
Heedong Yoon
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-3121, USA
Gregory B. McKenna
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-3121, USA
Warren C. Oliver
Affiliation:
Nanomechanics Inc., KLA-Tencor, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
Jason Kilpatrick
Affiliation:
Adama Innovations Ltd., CRANN, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
John B. Pethica
Affiliation:
School of Physics, CRANN & AMBER, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
Graham L.W. Cross*
Affiliation:
School of Physics, CRANN & AMBER, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland; and Adama Innovations Ltd., CRANN, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: graham.cross@tcd.ie
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Abstract

The measurement of thin film mechanical properties free from substrate influence remains one of the outstanding challenges in nanomechanics. Here, a technique based on indentation of a supported film with a flat punch whose diameter is many times the initial film thickness is introduced. This geometry generates a state of confined uniaxial strain for material beneath the punch, allowing direct access to intrinsic stress versus strain response. For simple elastic–plastic materials, this enables material parameters such as elastic modulus, bulk modulus, Poisson's ratio, and yield stress to be simultaneously determined from a single loading curve. The phenomenon of confined plastic yield has not been previously observed in thin films or homogeneous materials, which we demonstrate here for 170 -470 nm thick polystyrene (PS), polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and amorphous Selenium films on silicon. As well as performing full elastic -plastic parameter extraction for these materials at room temperature, we used the technique to study the variation of yield stress in PS to temperatures above the nominal glass transition of 100 °C.

Keywords

elastic propertiesstress/strain relationshipthin film
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 35 , Issue 6 , 30 March 2020 , pp. 644 - 653
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2020

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Footnotes

b)

Present address: Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India.

*

This article has been corrected since its original publication. An erratum notice detailing these changes was also published (doi: 10.1557/jmr.2020.67)

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