Delamination of thin film strips

Abstract

Delamination of residually stressed thin film strips is analyzed to expose the dependence on strip width and film/substrate elastic mismatch. Isotropic films and substrates are assumed. The residual stress in the film is tensile and assumed to originate from mismatch due to thermal expansion or epitaxial deposition. Full and partial delamination modes are explored. In full delamination, the interface crack extends across the entire width of the strip and releases all the elastic energy stored in the strip as the crack propagates along the interface. The energy release rate available to propagate the interface crack is a strong function of the strip width and the elastic modulus of the film relative to that of the substrate. The energy release rate associated with full delamination is determined as a function of the interface crack length from initiation to steady-state, revealing a progression of behavior depending in an essential way on the three dimensionality of the strip. The dependence of the energy release rate on the remaining ligament as the interface crack converges with the strip end has also been calculated, and the results provide an effective means for inferring interface toughness from crack arrest position. A partial delamination propagates along the strip leaving a narrow width of strip attached to the substrate. In this case, the entire elastic energy stored in the strip is not released because the strain component parallel to the strip is not relaxed. A special application is also considered, in which a residually stressed metal superlayer is deposited onto a polymer strip. The energy release rate for an interface crack propagating along the interface between the polymer and the substrate is determined in closed form.