8 - Metallic thin films: stresses and mechanical properties

Abstract

The mechanics and microstructural mechanisms controlling the stresses and mechanical properties of thin metallic films on substrates are studied. Techniques for measuring stresses in thin films, including both X-ray diffraction and substrate curvature methods, and the physical processes that lead to these stresses, including thermal, epitaxial and intrinsic processes, are described. The special techniques that are necessary for studying the mechanical properties of thin films on substrates, including substrate curvature methods, nanoindentation and bulge testing methods, are also described. The mechanisms that control strength and plasticity and that provide an understanding of the important size effects on these properties are also studied. Space does not permit a study of the important topic of fracture of thin films and adhesion to their substrates.