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Measuring substrate-independent modulus of dielectric films by instrumented indentation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Jennifer Hay
Jennifer Hay*
Affiliation:
Agilent Technologies, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: jenny.hay@agilent.com
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Abstract

Substrate influence is a common problem when using instrumented indentation (also known as nanoindentation) to evaluate the mechanical properties of thin films. In this work, finite element analysis was used to develop an ad hoc model that predicts the substrate influence when testing thin dielectric films on silicon. The model was evaluated experimentally using three sets of films that were nominally the same except for thickness. Using the model significantly reduced the measurement error for the thinnest films (<250 nm) by accurately accounting for the influence of the substrate. The model also significantly reduced the measurement uncertainty, because properties were evaluated using larger indents that would normally be unduly affected by the substrate. The process for developing this model may be useful in developing other ad hoc models for analyzing film-substrate systems.

Keywords

CoatingDielectric propertiesNanoindentation
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , March 2009 , pp. 667 - 677
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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References

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