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Evaluating local elasticity of the metal nano-films quantitatively based on referencing approach of atomic force acoustic microscopy

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Abstract

Traditional technique such nanoindenter(NI) can’t measure the local elastic modulus at nano-scale(lateral). Atomic force acoustic microscopy (AFAM) is a dynamic method, which can quantitatively determine indentation modulus by measuring the contact resonance spectra for high order modes of the cantilever. But there are few reports on the effect of experimental factors, such length of cantilever, contact stiffness on measured value. For three different samples, including copper(Cu) film with 110 nm thickness, zinc(Zn) film of 90 nm thickness and glass slides, are prepared and tested, using referencing approach in which measurements are performed on the test and reference samples (it’s elastic modulus is known), and their contact resonance spectra are measured used the AFAM system experimentally. According to the vibration theory, from the lowest two contact resonance frequencies, the tip-sample contact stiffness is calculated, and then the values for the elastic properties of test sample, such as the indentation modulus, are determined. Using AFAM system, the measured indentation modulus of copper nano-film, zinc nano-film and glass slides are 113.53 GPa, 87.92 GPa and 57.04 GPa, which are agreement with literature values M Cu = 105–130 GPa, M Zn = 88.44 GPa and M Glass = 50–90 GPa. Furthermore, the sensitivity of contact resonance frequency to contact stiffness is analyzed theoretically. The results show that for the cantilevers with the length 160 μm, 225 μm and 520 μm respectively, when contact stiffness increases from 400 N/m to 600 N/m, the increments of first contact resonance frequency are 126 kHz, 93 kHz and 0.6 kHz, which show that the sensitivity of the contact resonance frequency to the contact stiffness reduces with the length of cantilever increasing. The novel method presented can characterize elastic modulus of near surface for nano-film and bulk material, and local elasticity of near surface can be evaluated by optimizing the experimental parameters using the AFAM system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Electronics Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China

    Gaimei Zhang, Cunfu He & Bin Wu

  2. Laboratory of Plasma Physics and Materials, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, Beijing, 102600, China

    Gaimei Zhang & Qiang Chen

Authors
  1. Gaimei Zhang
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  2. Cunfu He
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  3. Bin Wu
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  4. Qiang Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cunfu He.

Additional information

This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No. 50775005), and General Program of Science and Technology Development Project of Beijing Municipal Education Commission(Grant No. KM201110015009)

ZHANG Gaimei, born in 1975, is currently a PhD candidate at College of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Electronics Technology, Beijing University of Technology, China. She received her master degree from Xi’an University of Technology, China, in 2001. Her research interests include the measurement of nanomechanics based on atomic force acoustic microscopy and the technology of the nondestructive tests.

HE Cunfu, born in 1958, is currently a professor at College of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Electronics Technology, Beijing University of Technology, China. He received his PhD degree from Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, China, in 1996. His research interests include modern nondestructive testing methods and signal processing.

WU Bin, born in 1962, is currently a professor at College of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Electronics Technology, Beijing University of Technology, China. He received his PhD degree from Taiyuan University of Technology, China, in 1996. His research interests include electrodynamics, modern nondestructive testing methods and signal processing.

CHEN Qiang, born in 1963, is currently a professor at Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, China. He received his PhD degree from Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2000. His research interests include plasma physics, plasma diagnostic, plasma chemistry, new soft-packaging materials fabrication and modifications.

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Zhang, G., He, C., Wu, B. et al. Evaluating local elasticity of the metal nano-films quantitatively based on referencing approach of atomic force acoustic microscopy. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 25, 1281–1286 (2012). https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2012.06.1281

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3901/CJME.2012.06.1281

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