Effects of the substrate on the determination of thin film mechanical properties by nanoindentation Original Research Article

We examine the effects of the substrate on the determination of mechanical properties of thin films by nanoindentation. The properties of aluminum and tungsten films on the following substrates have been studied: aluminum, glass, silicon and sapphire. By studying both soft films on hard substrates and hard films on soft substrates we are able to assess the effects of elastic and plastic inhomogeneity, as well as material pile-up, on the nanoindentation response. The data set includes Al/glass and W/sapphire, with the film and substrate having nearly the same elastic properties. These systems permit the true contact area and true hardness of the film to be determined from the measured contact stiffness, irrespective of the effects of pile-up or sink-in. Knowledge of the true hardness of the film permits a study of the effects of the elastic modulus mismatch on the nanoindentation properties, using the measured contact stiffness as a function of depth of indentation.