Abstract
A new technique for measuring the elastic-plastic properties of porous thin films by means of nanoindentation is proposed. The effects of porosity on indentation hardness and modulus are investigated through finite element analyses based on the Gurson model for plastic deformation of ductile porous materials. Intrinsic mechanical properties of the thin film are obtained by eliminating both substrate and densification effects. The technique is applied to the special case of a porous, low-permittivity dielectric thin film. The results are in good agreement with those obtained independently using the plane-strain bulge test. © 2006 Materials Research Society.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 715-724 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Materials Research |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 1 Mar 2006 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The work of Xi Chen is supported by National Science Foundation CMS-0407743. Joost Vlassak and Yong Xiang acknowledge financial support from National Science Foundation DMR-0213805 and from the Semiconductor Research Corporation (Task ID 12920.010).