Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T16:04:34.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Analysis of the accuracy of the bulge test in determining the mechanical properties of thin films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Martha K. Small  and
W.D. Nix
Martha K. Small
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
W.D. Nix
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
Get access

Abstract

Since its first application to thin films in the 1950's the bulge test has become a standard technique for measuring thin film mechanical properties. While the apparatus required for the test is simple, interpretation of the data is not. Failure to recognize this fact has led to inconsistencies in the reported values of properties obtained using the bulge test. For this reason we have used the finite element method to model the deformation behavior of a thin film in a bulge test for a variety of initial conditions and material properties. In this paper we will review several of the existing models for describing the deformation behavior of a circular thin film in a bulge test, and then analyze these models in light of the finite element results. The product of this work is a set of equations and procedures for analyzing bulge test data that will improve the accuracy and reliability of this technique.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 7 , Issue 6 , June 1992 , pp. 1553 - 1563
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

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

1.Yang, W. M. C., Tsakalakos, T., and Hilliard, J. E., J. Appl. Phys. 48 (3), 876 (1977).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Itozaki, H., Ph.D. Dissertation, Northwestern (1982).Google Scholar
3.Baker, S. P., Jankowski, A. F., Hong, S., and Nix, W. D., in Thin Films: Stresses and Mechanical Properties II, edited by Doerner, M. F., Oliver, W. C., Pharr, G. M., and Brotzen, F. R. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 188, Pittsburgh, PA, 1990), pp. 289–294.Google Scholar
4.Beams, J. W., in Structure and Properties of Thin Films, edited by Neugebauer, C. A., Newkirk, J. B., and Vermilyea, D. A. (John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1959), p. 183.Google Scholar
5.Catlin, A. and Walker, W. P., J. Appl. Phys. 31 (12), 2135 (1960).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Hill, R., Philos. Mag. 41 (322), 1133 (1950).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Tsakalakos, T., Thin Solid Films 75, 293 (1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Timoshenko, S. and Woinowsky-Krieger, S., Theory of Plates and Shells (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959), p. 400.Google Scholar
9.Allen, M. G., Mehregany, M., Howe, R. T., and Senturia, S. D., Appl. Phys. Lett. 51 (4), 241 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Mehregany, M., Allen, M. G., and Senturia, S. D., IEEE Solid State Sensors Workshop (1986).Google Scholar
11.Lin, P., Ph.D. Dissertation, MIT (1990).Google Scholar
12.Timoshenko, S. and Woinowsky-Krieger, S., Theory of Plates and Shells (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959), p. 345.Google Scholar
13.Meyers, M. A. and Chawla, K. K., Mechanical Metallurgy: Principles and Applications (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1984).Google Scholar
14. MARC Finite Element Code version K.4, Marc Analysis Research Corp. (1990).Google Scholar