Substrate Effect, Pile-Up and Sink-In Factors During Thin Film Nanoindentation

Abstract

Theoretical and experimental models continue to be developed for thin-film nanoindentation that attempt to account for substrate effects in differing film-substrate combinations. While many models have been developed to extract film properties independent of the substrate through simple instrumented indentation testing, it is important for a sufficient model that correctly predicts the behavior in a wide range of materials. One recent model developed by Zhou et al. has shown a more developed understanding of the interface between the substrate and film, and shows promise to better describe many material combinations, but has not been sufficiently vetted for films on substrates that more easily plastically deform. The focus of this work is to apply the aforementioned model to situations that it has not been before, and to evaluate its ability to accurately extract the film’s Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio from the experimental composite modulus.