Abstract
Instrumented indentation test inside SEM has become a versatile method for nanomechanical characterization and studying of deformation and failure mechanisms of coating materials at nano-to micro-scale thickness. However, the existing SEM-based nanoindentation instrument cannot acquire surface roughness of coating materials at nano-to micro-scale thickness before nanoindentation and the morphology of residual imprints in real-time inside SEM after nanoindentation. To overcome those two limitations, a new SEM-based nanoindentation instrument integrated with AFM function has been developed. This paper presents a miniature piezoresistive transducer capable of measuring force up to ±2.5N with a resolution of 0.5μN, and measuring displacement up to ±36μm with a resolution of 0.01nm for new developed SEM-based nanoindentation instrument. The transducer design, optimization, readout electronics and characterization are described. Cross-shape compliant mechanism is adopted considering the influence of the lateral force during nanoindentation process. Moreover, four piezoresistive bar-type semiconductor strain gauges (SCSG) have been glued on the cross-shape compliant mechanism enabling the transducer has a compact structure. A new temperature compensation method for SCSG sensors is proposed and solves the problem of amplifier saturation compared with traditional temperature compensation method. Compared with the existing widely used capacitive-based transducer for instrumented indentation test inside SEM, cross-shape piezoresistive transducer shows larger measured ranges. Compared with the existing piezoresistive-based transducer for instrumented indentation test inside SEM, cross-shape piezoresistive transducer shows better resolutions. In the end, the validation test of AFM imaging inside HITACHI SU5000 using standard AFM calibration chip SiC/0.75 is tested.
Highlights
Instrumented indentation test inside SEM has become a versatile method for nanomechanical characterization andThe associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Zheng Chen .studying of deformation and failure mechanisms of coating materials at nano- to micro-scale thickness
The new developed nanoindentation instrument integrated with AFM function enables to determine the precise indentation depth for characterizing coating at nano- to micro-scale thickness
The traditional temperature compensation method will cause the problem of amplifier saturation for the new developed SEM-based nanoindentation instrument integrated with AFM function
Summary
Using the new SEM-based nanoindentation instrument to characterize coating at nanoto micro-scale thickness, the arithmetic roughness (Ra) of interested local surface area is firstly measured by AFM function. The new developed nanoindentation instrument integrated with AFM function enables to determine the precise indentation depth for characterizing coating at nano- to micro-scale thickness. Piezoresistive-based transducer measures the force and displacement based on the variation of the specific resistance of a materials induced by applied stress [22], [23] It allows for the highest level of miniaturization, but is limited to a relatively low sensitivity. The traditional temperature compensation method will cause the problem of amplifier saturation for the new developed SEM-based nanoindentation instrument integrated with AFM function To overcome this limitation, a modified temperature compensation method was proposed in this paper. The relationship between load, displacement and output voltage (e.g., sensitivity SForce, SDis) are given by SForce
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