Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T05:39:04.554Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bulge fatigue testing of freestanding and supported gold films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2014

Benoit Merle  and
Mathias Göken
Benoit Merle*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Institute I, Martensstr. 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
Mathias Göken
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Institute I, Martensstr. 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The bulge test was used to investigate the fatigue properties of gold thin films with a thickness between 100 and 300 nm. The membranes were pressurized at a rate of 0.2 Hz up to 105 times, during which their stress and strain states were continuously recorded. Gold films on a silicon nitride substrate were cyclically loaded into tension and compression. Due to the presence of the substrate, no membrane failure was observed, but the residual stress shifted from an initially tensile state to an increasingly compressive one. Typical fatigue damage mechanisms consisting of extrusions were found in some large grains. Freestanding films were cyclically loaded in pure tension until failure occurred. The data acquired during the fatigue tests show a strong ratcheting of the films, which is indicative of cyclic plastic creep. Microstructural investigations clearly show grain boundary sliding in very thin films with columnar grains extending through the thickness.

Keywords

bulge testthin filmfatiguegold
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , 28 January 2014 , pp. 267 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

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

Schwaiger, R., Dehm, G., and Kraft, O.: Cyclic deformation of polycrystalline Cu films. Philos. Mag. 83(6), 693–710 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwaiger, R. and Kraft, O.: Size effects in the fatigue behavior of thin Ag films. Acta Mater. 51(1), 195–206 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, G.P., Volkert, C.A., Schwaiger, R., Wellner, P., Arzt, E., and Kraft, O.: Length-scale-controlled fatigue mechanisms in thin copper films. Acta Mater. 54(11), 3127–3139 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, N., Suo, Z., and Vlassak, J.J.: The effect of film thickness on the failure strain of polymer-supported metal films. Acta Mater. 58(5), 1679–1687 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraft, O., Schwaiger, R., and Wellner, P.: Fatigue in thin films: Lifetime and damage formation. Mater. Sci. Eng., A 319–321, 919–923 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mughrabi, H.: Dislocation wall and cell structures and long-range internal stresses in deformed metal crystals. Acta Metall. 31(9), 1367–1379 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mughrabi, H.: Cyclic slip irreversibilities and the evolution of fatigue damage. Metall. Mater. Trans. B 40(4), 431–453 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, A.T.: Etching studies of dislocation microstructures in crystals of copper fatigued at low constant plastic strain amplitude. Philos. Mag. 28(1), 57–64 (1973).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sim, G-D., Hwangbo, Y., Kim, H-H., Lee, S-B., and Vlassak, J.J.: Fatigue of polymer-supported Ag thin films. Scr. Mater. 66(11), 915–918 (2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, X.J., Wang, C.C., Zhang, J., Liu, G., Zhang, G.J., Ding, X.D., Zhang, G.P., and Sun, J.: Thickness dependent fatigue life at microcrack nucleation for metal thin films on flexible substrates. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 41(19), 195404 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, N., Wang, X., Suo, Z., and Vlassak, J.: Failure by simultaneous grain growth, strain localization, and interface debonding in metal films on polymer substrates. J. Mater. Res. 24(2), 379–385 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abbas, K., Leseman, Z.C., and Mackin, T.J.: Ultra low cycle fatigue of axisymmetric freestanding nanoscale gold films. In ASME Proceedings, ASME: 2008; pp. 91–97.Google Scholar
Lin, M-T., Tong, C-J., and Shiu, KS.: Novel microtensile method for monotonic and cyclic testing of freestanding copper thin films. Exp. Mech. 50(1), 55–64 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, M-T., Tong, C-J., and Shiu, K-S.: Monotonic and fatigue testing of freestanding submicron thin beams application for MEMS. Microsys. Technol. 14(7), 1041–1048 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraft, O. and Volkert, C.A.: Mechanical testing of thin films and small structures. Adv. Eng. Mater. 3(3), 99–110 (2001).3.0.CO;2-2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schweitzer, E.W. and Göken, M.: In situ bulge testing in an atomic force microscope: Microdeformation experiments of thin film membranes. J. Mater. Res. 22(10), 2902–2911 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merle, B. and Göken, M.: Fracture toughness of silicon nitride thin films of different thicknesses as measured by bulge tests. Acta Mater. 59(4), 1772–1779 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liddle, J.A., Huggins, H.A., Mulgrew, P., Harriott, L.R., Wade, H.H., and Bolan, K.: Fracture strength of thin ceramic membranes. Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 338, 501–506 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiang, Y., McKinnell, J., Ang, W-M., and Vlassak, J.J.: Measuring the fracture toughness of ultra-thin films with application to alta coatings. Int. J. Fract. 144(3), 173–179 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalkman, A.J., Verbruggen, A.H., and Janssen, G.C.A.M.: Young’s modulus measurements and grain boundary sliding in free-standing thin metal films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 78(18), 2673–2675 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vlassak, J.J. and Nix, W.D.: New bulge test technique for the determination of Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of thin films. J. Mater. Res. 7(12), 3242–3249 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiang, Y., Chen, X., and Vlassak, J.J.: Plane-strain bulge test for thin films. J. Mater. Res. 20(9), 2360–2370 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Small, M. and Nix, W.D.: Analysis of the accuracy of the bulge test in determining the mechanical properties of thin films. J. Mater. Res. 7(6), 1553–1563 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kocks, U.F., Tomé, C.N., and Wenk, H-R.: Texture and Anisotropy (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1998).Google Scholar
Movchan, B.A. and Demchishin, A.V.: Study of the structure and properties of thick vacuum condensates of nickel, titanium, tungsten, aluminum oxide and zirconium dioxide. Fiz. Met. Metalloved. 28(4), 653–660 (1969).Google Scholar
Chuang, W-H., Fettig, R.K., and Ghodssi, R.: Nano-scale fatigue study of LPCVD silicon nitride thin films using a mechanical-amplifier actuator. J. Micromech. Microeng. 17(5), 938–944 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chuang, W-H., Fettig, R.K., and Ghodssi, R.: Fatigue study of nano-scale silicon nitride thin films using a novel electrostatic actuator. In Digest of Technical Papers Transducers ’05, IEEE: 2005; pp. 1957–1960.Google Scholar
Callister, D. Jr.: Fundamental of Material Science and Engineering (Wiley & Sons, New York, 2005).Google Scholar
Merle, B., Schweitzer, E.W., and Göken, M.: Thickness and grain size dependence of the strength of copper thin films as investigated with bulge tests and nanoindentations. Philos. Mag. 92(25–27), 3172–3187 (2012).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, G. and Wang, H.: Single Crystal Elastic Constants and Calculated Aggregate Properties: A Handbook (The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971)Google Scholar
Xiang, Y. and Vlassak, J.J.: Bauschinger effect in thin metal films. Scr. Mater. 53(2), 177–182 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hommel, M., Kraft, O., and Arzt, E.: A new method to study cyclic deformation of thin films in tension and compression. J. Mater. Res. 14(6), 2373–2376 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eberl, C., Spolenak, R., Arzt, E., Kubat, F., Leidl, A., Ruile, W., and Kraft, O.: Ultra high-cycle fatigue in pure Al thin films and line structures. Mater. Sci. Eng., A 421(1–2), 68–76 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blech, I.A.: Electromigration in thin aluminum films on titanium nitride. J. Appl. Phys. 47(4), 1203–1208 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, D-K., Heiland, B., Nix, W.D., Arzt, E., Deal, M.D., and Plummer, J.D.: Microstructure of thermal hillocks on blanket Al thin films. Thin Solid Films 371(1), 278–282 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mughrabi, H., Ackermann, F., and Herz, K.: Persistent slip bands in fatigued face-centered and body-centered cubic metals, ASTM Special Technical Publication 675, 69–105 (1979).Google Scholar
Arzt, E.: Size effects in materials due to microstructural and dimensional constraints: A comparative review. Acta Mater. 46(16), 5611–5626 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nix, W.D.: Mechanical properties of thin films. Metall. Trans. A 20(11), 2217–2245 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwaiger, R. and Kraft, O.: High cycle fatigue of thin silver films investigated by dynamic microbeam deflection. Scr. Mater. 41(8), 823–829 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, D., Volkert, C.A., and Kraft, O.: Effect of length scale on fatigue life and damage formation in thin Cu films. Mater. Sci. Eng., A 493(1–2), 267–273 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maier, V., Merle, B., Göken, M., and Durst, K.: An improved long-term nanoindentation creep testing approach for studying the local deformation processes in nanocrystalline metals at room and elevated temperatures. J. Mater. Res. 28(9), 1177–1188 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar