Title

Nanoindentation Measurements Of The Mechanical Properties Of Polycrystalline Au And Ag Thin Films On Silicon Substrates: Effects Of Grain Size And Film Thickness

Keywords

fcc thin films; Hall-Petch effects; Hardness; Nanoindentation; Thickness effect; Young's modulus

Abstract

This paper presents the results of nanoindentation experimental studies of the contact-induced deformation in Au and Ag thin films. The paper examines the effects of film thickness and substrate deformation restraint on the mechanical properties of electron beam (e-beam) deposited Au and Ag films. Following a brief description of film microstructure, surface topography, and contact-induced pile-up deformation, film mechanical properties (hardness and Young's modulus) were determined using nanoindentation techniques. The indentation size effects (ISE) observed in films with different thicknesses were explained using a mechanism-based strain gradient (MSG) theory. The intrinsic film yield strengths and hardnesses extracted from the MSG theory are shown to exhibit classical Hall-Petch dependence on the inverse square root of the average film grain size. Displacement bursts were also found to occur in Ag films at indentation load levels of 100 μN. These were attributed to the initial onset of dislocation slip activity, when the shear stress exceeds the estimated theoretical shear strengths of the materials. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Publication Date

7-15-2006

Publication Title

Materials Science and Engineering A

Volume

427

Issue

1-2

Number of Pages

232-240

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2006.04.080

Socpus ID

33745231360 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/33745231360

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