Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T00:47:41.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A new approach to determine wedge-indented interfacial toughness in soft-film hard-substrate systems with application to low-k films on Si substrate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2012

Lei Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576; and Department of Engineering Mechanics, Institute of High Performance Computing, Singapore 138632, Singapore
Kaiyang Zeng*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576
Yongwei Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering Mechanics, Institute of High Performance Computing, Singapore 138632, Singapore
Chongmin She
Affiliation:
Academy of Frontier Science, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Guirong Liu
Affiliation:
School of Aerospace Systems, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0070
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

A new approach has been proposed to determine the interfacial toughness of soft-film hard-substrate systems based on wedge indentation experiments. In this approach, a comprehensive finite element study was undertaken to correct de Boer’s solutions, which were used to measure the wedge-indented interfacial toughness. Two-dimensional indentation simulations were first performed to systematically study the effects of the plastic properties of the films and the interfacial toughness itself on the correction factor for de Boer’s equations, which were used as closed-form solutions to evaluate the interfacial toughness. Further, three-dimensional simulations were used to investigate the effects of stress states on the interfacial toughness, which depends on the ratio of the indenter length to the film thickness. A universal correction expression for de Boer’s equations was obtained using a regression method. With this expression, a reverse algorithm was proposed to determine the interfacial toughness, and extensive numerical calculations were performed to verify that the present approach accurately evaluates the interfacial toughness. Finally, this new approach was applied to analyze the wedge indentation of low-k dielectric films, namely, methylsilsesquioxane and black diamond (BDTM) films, on a Si substrate.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Malzbender, J., den Toonder, J.M.J., Balkenende, A.R., and de With, G.: Measuring mechanical properties of coatings: A methodology applied to nano-particle-filled sol-gel coatings on glass. Mater. Sci. Eng., R 36, 47 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kriese, M.D., Boismier, D.A., Moody, N.R., and Gerberich, W.W.: Nanomechanical fracture-testing of thin films. Eng. Fract. Mech. 61, 1 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volinsky, A.A. and Gerberich, W.W.: Nanoindentation techniques for measuring mechanical reliability at the nanoscale. Microelectron. Eng. 69, 519 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, X. and Bhushan, B.: A review of nanoindentation continuous stiffness measurement technique and its applications. Mater. Charact. 48, 11 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drory, M.D. and Hutchinson, J.W.: Measurement of the adhesion of a brittle film on a ductile substrate by indentation. Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 452, 2319 (1996).Google Scholar
Vlassak, J.J., Drory, M.D., and Nix, W.D.: A simple technique for measuring the adhesion of brittle films to ductile substrates with application to diamond-coated titanium. J. Mater. Res. 12, 1900 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulze, M. and Nix, W.D.: Finite element analysis of the wedge delamination test. Int. J. Solids Struct. 37, 1045 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Begley, M.R., Mumm, D.R., Evans, A.G., and Hutchinson, J.W.: Analysis of a wedge impression test for measuring the interface toughness between films/coatings and ductile substrates. Acta Mater. 48, 3211 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, D.B. and Evans, A.G.: Measurement of adherence of residually stressed thin films by indentation. I. Mechanics of interface delamination. J. Appl. Phys. 56, 2632 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rossington, C., Evans, A.G., Marshall, D.B., and Khuri-Yakub, B.T.: Measurement of adherence of residual stresses thin films by indentation. II. Experiments with ZnO/Si. J. Appl. Phys. 56, 2639 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Boer, M.P. and Gerberich, W.W.: Microwedge indentation thin film fine line–I: Mechanics. Acta Mater. 44, 3169 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Boer, M.P. and Gerberich, W.W.: Microwedge indentation thin film fine line–II: Experiment. Acta Mater. 44, 3177 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeap, K.B., Zeng, K.Y., Jiang, H.Y., Shen, L., and Chi, D.Z.: Determining interfacial properties of submicron low-k films on Si substrate by using wedge indentation technique. J. Appl. Phys. 101, 123531 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeap, K.B., Zeng, K.Y., and Chi, D.Z.: Determining the interfacial toughness of low-k films on Si substrate by wedge indentation: Further studies. Acta Mater. 56, 977 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moon, M.W., Jensen, H.M., Hutchinson, J.W., Oh, K.H., and Evans, A.G.: The characterization of telephone cord buckling of compressed thin films on substrate. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 50, 2355 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchinson, J.W., Thouless, M.D., and Liniger, E.G.: Growth and configurational stability of circular buckling driven film delaminations. Acta Metall. Mater. 40, 295 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, W.Z. and Siegmund, T.: An analysis of the indentation test to determine the interface toughness in a weakly bonded thin film coating-substrate system. Acta Mater. 52, 2989 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, H., Lee, J.H., and Pharr, G.M.: A numerical approach to spherical indentation techniques for material property evaluation. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 53, 2037 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, L., Yeap, K.B., Zeng, K.Y., She, C.M., and Liu, G.R.: Interfacial delamination cracking shapes and stress states during wedge indentation in a soft-film-on-hard-substrate system – computational simulation and experimental studies. J. Mater. Res. 26, 2511 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
She, C.M., Zhang, Y.W., and Zeng, K.Y.: A three-dimensional finite element analysis of interface delamination in a ductile film/hard substrate system induced by wedge indentation. Eng. Fract. Mech. 76, 2272 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, X.P. and Needleman, A.J.: Numerical simulations of fast crack growth in brittle solids. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 42, 1397 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tvergaard, T.V. and Hutchinson, J.W.: Effect of strain-dependent cohesive zone model on predictions of crack growth resistance. Int. J. Solids Struct. 33, 3297 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ABAQUS User Manual, Version 6.9, (SIMULIA, Providence, RI, 2009).Google Scholar
Dao, M., Chollacoop, N., Vliet, J.V., Venkatesh, T.A., and Suresh, S.: Computational modeling of the forward and reverse problems in instrumented sharp indentation. Acta Mater. 49, 3899 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cao, Y.P. and Lu, J.: A new method to extract the plastic properties of metal materials from an instrumented spherical indentation loading curve. Acta Mater. 52, 4023 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchinson, J.W. and Suo, Z.: Mixed mode cracking in layered materials, in Advances in Applied Mechanics, Vol. 29, edited by Hutchinson, J.W. and Wu, T.Y. (Academic Press, New York, 1992), p. 63.Google Scholar
Chen, L., Yeap, K.B., Zeng, K.Y., and Liu, G.R.: Finite element simulation and experimental determination of interfacial adhesion properties by wedge indentation. Philos. Mag. 89, 1395 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K.L.: The correlation of indentation experiments. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 18, 115 (1970).CrossRefGoogle Scholar