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Simulation of nanoindentation experiments of single‐layer and double‐layer thin films using finite element method
Author(s) -
Moćko W.,
Szymańska M.,
Śmietana M.,
Kalisz M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.5473
Subject(s) - nanoindentation , materials science , thin film , layer (electronics) , substrate (aquarium) , composite material , diamond , von mises yield criterion , modulus , elastic modulus , silicon , finite element method , stress (linguistics) , nanotechnology , structural engineering , metallurgy , linguistics , oceanography , philosophy , engineering , geology
In this work, we focused on investigations of mechanical properties of SiN x and diamond‐like carbon thin films deposited by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapour deposition method for application in optical devices or solar cells. Mechanical properties of thin films deposited on clean and oxidized silicon substrates were determined by nanoindentation. The main difficulty with the characterization of thin films using nanoindentation method is related to the influence of the substrate on the measured properties of thin layers. We proposed a method to determine the mechanical properties (hardness and Young's modulus) of thin films in single‐layer/substrate or double‐layer/substrate system through combining the finite element method, nanoindentation experiments and numerical simulations. In this study, a three‐dimensional numerical model of nanoindentation tests performed with Vickers diamond indenter was examined to determine the stress distributions during measurement with various maximum loads. The hardness and Young's modulus of the examined layers were determined using two types of procedures, depending on the von Mises equivalent stress distribution obtained at the maximum load. If the size of an elastically deformed region was sufficiently small compared with the thickness of the measured layers, we applied a standard method of measuring at the depth equal to 10% of the layer thickness; otherwise, an approximation method was used to reduce the substrate influence. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.