Mechanical Property Evaluation of a film on a substrate with Numerical Analysis on a Nanoindentation Behavior

Abstract

A novel method to evaluate the mechanical property of a thin film on a substrate is developed, in which nanoindentation with a point-sharp indenter is utilized. Numerical analysis on indentation behavior is carried out with the finite element method to derive the indentation parameters of a film from the indentation behavior, which is not affected by the deformation of a substrate. Using the indentation parameters, the mechanical properties, such as Young's modulus, yield strength and Meyer hardness, of the film can be evaluated.