scholarly journals The Effect of Stress on the Nanomechanical Properties of Au Surfaces

1996 ◽  
Vol 440 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Houston

AbstractStress in thin films plays a critical role in many technologically important areas. The role is a beneficial one in strained layer superlattices where semiconductor electrical and optical properties can be tailored with film stress. On the negative side, residual stress in thin-film interconnects in microelectronics can lead to cracking and delamination. In spite of their importance, however, surface and thin-film stresses are difficult to measure and control, especially on a local level. In recent studies, we used the Interfacial Force Microscope (IFM) in a nanoindenter mode to survey the nanomechanical properties of Au films grown on various substrates. Quantitative tabulations of the indentation modulus and the maximum shear stress at the plastic threshold showed consistent values over individual samples but a wide variation from substrate to substrate. These values were compared with film properties such as surface roughness, average grain size and interfacial adhesion and no correlation was found. However, in a subsequent analysis of the results, we found consistencies which support the integrity of the data and point to the fact that the results are sensitive to some property of the various film/substrate combinations. In recent measurements on two of the original substrate materials we found a direct correlation between the nanomechanical values and the residual stress in the films, as measured globally by a wafer warping technique. In the present paper, we review these earlier results and show recent measurements dealing with stresses externally applied to the films which supports our earlier conclusion concerning the role of stress on our measurements. In addition, we present very recent results concerning morphological effects on nanomechanical properties which add additional support to the suggestion that near-threshold indentation holds promise of being able to measure stress on a very local level

1996 ◽  
Vol 436 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Houston ◽  
T. A. Michalske

AbstractIn recent studies, we used the Interfacial Force Microscope in a nanoindenter mode to survey the nanomechanical properties of Au films grown on various substrates. Quantitative tabulations of the indentation modulus and the maximum shear stress at the plastic threshold showed consistent values over individual samples but a wide variation from substrate to substrate. These values were compared with film properties such as the surface roughness, average grain size and interfacial adhesion and no correlation was found. However, in a subsequent analysis of the the results, we found consistencies which support the integrity of the data and point to the fact that the results are sensitive to some property of the various film/substrate combinations. In the present paper, we discuss these consistencies and show recent measurements which strongly suggest that the property that is being probed is the residual stress in the films caused by their interaction with the substrate surfaces.


2008 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Feng ◽  
Y. Huang ◽  
A. J. Rosakis

Current methodologies used for the inference of thin film stress through curvature measurements are strictly restricted to uniform film stress and system curvature states over the entire system of a single thin film on a substrate. By considering a circular multilayer thin film/substrate system subjected to nonuniform temperature distributions, we derive relations between the stresses in each film and temperature, and between the system curvatures and temperature. These relations featured a “local” part that involves a direct dependence of the stress or curvature components on the temperature at the same point, and a “nonlocal” part, which reflects the effect of temperature of other points on the location of scrutiny. We also derive relations between the film stresses in each film and the system curvatures, which allow for the experimental inference of such stresses from full-field curvature measurements in the presence of arbitrary nonuniformities. These relations also feature a “nonlocal” dependence on curvatures making full-field measurements of curvature a necessity for the correct inference of stress. The interfacial shear tractions between the films and between the film and substrate are proportional to the gradient of the first curvature invariant, and can also be inferred experimentally.


2006 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 1225-1233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Huang ◽  
A. J. Rosakis

Current methodologies used for the inference of thin film stress through curvature measurements are strictly restricted to stress and curvature states that are assumed to remain uniform over the entire film/substrate system. By considering a circular thin film/substrate system subject to nonuniform and nonaxisymmetric temperature distributions, we derive relations between the film stresses and temperature, and between the plate system’s curvatures and the temperature. These relations featured a “local” part that involves a direct dependence of the stress or curvature components on the temperature at the same point, and a “nonlocal” part that reflects the effect of temperature of other points on the location of scrutiny. Most notably, we also derive relations between the polar components of the film stress and those of system curvatures which allow for the experimental inference of such stresses from full-field curvature measurements in the presence of arbitrary nonuniformities. These relations also feature a “nonlocal” dependence on curvatures making full-field measurements of curvature a necessity for the correct inference of stress. Finally, it is shown that the interfacial shear tractions between the film and the substrate are related to the gradients of the first curvature invariant and can also be inferred experimentally.


2013 ◽  
Vol 644 ◽  
pp. 161-164
Author(s):  
Wu Tang ◽  
Ji Jun Yang ◽  
Chi Ming Li

In this paper, Al2O3 thin film samples were deposited on Si-(100) substrate by electron beam evaporation with different thickness at substrate temperature 400°C and after that, annealed in the air at 500°C with different time. The structure, thickness and residual stress of these films were measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD), stylus profiler and electronic thin film stress distribution tester, respectively. The effects of several parameters on the properties of Al2O3 films were studied. In addition, the relations between thickness and residual stress of Al2O3 thin films as the high-k gate dielectric was analyzed. The results shown that the residual stress becomes smaller after annealing, the residual stress was depressed down to maximum value 300MPa from 580MPa for annealing time 30min, and depressed down to minimum value 220MPa from 580MPa for annealing time 60min. But eventually, it has a critical film thickness point on the scale.


1994 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 872-878 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. B. Masters ◽  
N. J. Salamon

A new higher order geometrically nonlinear relation is developed to relate the deflection of a thin film /substrate system to the intrinsic film stress when these deflections are larger than the thickness of the substrate. Using the Rayleigh-Ritz method, these nonlinear relations are developed by approximating the out-of-plane deflections by a second-order polynomial and midplane normal strains by sixthorder polynomials. Several plate deflection configurations arise in an isotropic system: at very low intrinsic film stresses, a single, stable, spherical plate configuration is predicted; as the intrinsic film stress increases, the solution bifurcates into one unstable spherical shape and two stable ellipsoidal shapes; in the limit as the intrinsic film stress approaches infinity, the ellipsoidal configurations develop into cylindrical plate curvatures about either one of the two axes. Curvatures predicted by this new relation are significantly more accurate than previous theories when compared to curvatures calculated from three-dimensional nonlinear finite element deflection results. Furthermore, the finite element results display significant transverse stresses in a small boundary region near the free edge.


2012 ◽  
Vol 190-191 ◽  
pp. 487-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ban Quan Yang ◽  
Xue Jun Chen ◽  
Wei Hai Sun ◽  
Hong Qian Chen ◽  
Jing Wen Pan ◽  
...  

The fracture behavior of a brittle thin film on an elastic substrate under residual stress and uniaxial tensile loading is investigated. It is assumed that the residual stress in the thin film is not large enough to cause the thin film to fracture. Using a mechanical model presented in this work, the analytical solutions for the distribution laws of the tensile stress developed in the thin film, the shear stress developed along the interface and the relationship between the crack density of the thin film and the applied strain of the substrate can be obtained. The results presented in this work can provide a new analytic solution to the interfacial shear stress for characterizing the interfacial shear strength of the thin film/substrate system when the uniaxial tensile test is adopted to evaluate the mechanical properties of the thin film/substrate system.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C724-C724
Author(s):  
Christoph Genzel

The most important advantage of energy dispersive (ED) diffraction compared with angle dispersive methods is that the former provides complete diffraction patterns in fixed but arbitrarily selectable scattering directions. Furthermore, in experiments that are carried out in reflection geometry, the different photon energies E(hkl) of the diffraction lines in an ED diffraction pattern can be taken as an additional parameter to analyze depth gradients of structural properties in the materials near surface region. For data evaluation advantageous use can be made of whole pattern methods such as the Rietveld method, which allows for line profile analysis to study size and strain broadening [1] or for the refinement of models that describe the residual stress depth distribution [2]. Concerning polycrystalline thin films, the features of ED diffraction mentioned above can be applied to study residual stresses, texture and the microstructure either in ex-situ experiments or in-situ to monitor, for example, the chemical reaction pathway during film growth [3]. The main objective of this talk is to demonstrate that (contrary to a widespread opinion) high energy synchrotron radiation and thin film analysis may fit together. The corresponding experiments were performed on the materials science beamline EDDI at BESSY II which is one of the very few instruments worldwide that is especially dedicated to ED diffraction. On the basis of selected examples it will be shown that specially tailored experimental setups allow for residual stress depth profiling even in thin films and multilayer coatings as well as for fast in situ studies of film stress and microstructure evolution during film growth.


2013 ◽  
Vol 470 ◽  
pp. 521-524
Author(s):  
Ban Quan Yang ◽  
Jun Du ◽  
Xue Jun Chen ◽  
Wei Hai Sun ◽  
Hong Qian Chen ◽  
...  

The effect of the mechanical properties and geometric parameters on the crack density of the thin film/substrate system under residual stress and uniaxial tensile loading is investigated in this work. The numerical results show that the crack density of the thin film increases with the increase of the Youngs modulus of the thin film and (or) the shear modules of the interface layer, and it decreases with the increase of the thickness of the thin film and (or) the fracture strength of the thin film. These results can help us more deeply understand the fracture behavior of the brittle thin film on the substrate under residual stress and external tensile loading.


1993 ◽  
Vol 308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. White ◽  
John Nelson ◽  
William W. Gerberich

ABSTRACTThe effect of residual stress on the scratch adhesion critical load has been measured for sputtered tantalum films. In this single metallurgical system, six different failure modes could be observed, ranging from ductile ploughing to extensive spallation. For tantalum films deposited on silicon substrates, a 15% decrease in critical load was observed as the film residual stress increased from -1.1 GPa to +1.0 GPa. A larger percentage decrease (50%) was observed for films deposited on softer AIMg/NiP substrates. Film spallation was more extensive for films deposited over a thin carbon layer and for these films critical loads increased slightly with film stress. These results are substantially in contradiction with existing quantitative models for the scratch adhesion test and indicate that failure by shear at the film-substrate interface can be more important than failure by compressive buckling.


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