In this study, an ultrasonic method for characterizing thin films based on the dispersion of the first Rayleigh mode is presented. The principle of surface acoustic waves (SAW) generation using a broadband transducer and their detection is detailed. It is shown that over a frequency range between 20 MHz and 125 MHz, SAWs are sensitive to fine deposits and the attenuation is reasonable thus enabling measurements over 20 mm. The Slant Stack transform used to obtain the experimental dispersion curves with excellent signal-to-noise ratios is then presented and analyzed. Finally, four samples of silicon on which gold layers 400 nm, 300 nm, 180 nm, and 50 nm thick had been deposited and characterized. The thicknesses and the elastic parameters of the gold layers and the silicon substrate were obtained from the inversions performed on the experimental dispersion curves. These results show the efficiency of the non-destructive ultrasonic technique associated with a Slant Stack transform before inversion.

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are sensitive to the presence of a layer on the surface of a material, even if this layer is extremely thin compared to their wavelengths. Given the very slow propagation velocities of SAWs compared to electromagnetic waves, their wavelengths are on the order of 40  μm for acoustic frequencies on the order of 100 MHz. However, it has been shown that these waves are dispersive for coatings whose thicknesses are more than 1000 times smaller than their wavelength. This sensitivity is verified by studying the dispersion of SAWs for a frequency range between 90 and 260 MHz.

In the ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation of thin films, it is essential to have ultrasonic transducers that are able to generate surface acoustic waves (SAW) of suitably high frequencies in a wide frequency range of between ten and several hundred megahertz. If the characterization is carried out with the transducer in contact with the sample, it is also necessary that the transducers provide a high level of mechanical displacement (>100 s pm). This level allows the wave to cross the transducer–sample interface and propagate over the distance of a few millimeters on the sample and be properly detected. In this paper, an emitter transducer formed of interdigitated chirp electrodes deposited on 128° Y-cut LiNbO3 is proposed. It is shown that this solution efficiently enables the generation of SAW (displacement level up to 1 nm) in a frequency range of between 100 and 240 MHz. The electrical characterization and a displacement field analysis of SAW by laser Doppler vibrometry are presented. The transducer’s significant unidirectionality is demonstrated. Finally, the characterization of two titanium thin films deposited on silicon is presented as an example. A meaningful SAW velocity dispersion (~10 m/s) is obtained, which allows for the precise estimation (5% of relative error) of the submicrometer thickness of the layers (20 and 50 nm).

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