Interfacial energy release rates of SiN/GaAs film/substrate systems determined using a cyclic loading dual-indentation method

Abstract

Please cite this article as: Mingyuan Lu, Han Huang, Interfacial energy release rates of SiN/GaAs film/substrate systems determined using a cyclic loading dual-indentation method, Thin Solid Films (2015Films ( ), doi: 10.1016Films ( /j.tsf.2015 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT AbstractOur previous study developed a dual-indentation method for testing the interfacial energy release rate, G in , of the SiN/GaAs film/substrate systems. However, for the film/substrate systems with relatively high interfacial toughness, the dual-indentation method was unable to generate interfacial delamination. In this study, a cyclic loading dual-indentation method was proposed, in which the first monotonic loading in the dual-indentation method was replaced by cyclic loading. It was demonstrated that cyclic loading was effective at inducing delamination in relatively "tough" SiN/GaAs interfaces that were unable to be delaminated by dual-indentation method. The G in values obtained from the cyclic loading indentation were in good agreement with those obtained from the dual-indentation method for the less tough interfaces. The delamination mechanism in the cyclic loading indentation was attributed to the hardening effect on the films induced by cyclic loading, permitting sufficient elastic strain energy to be accumulated to initiate the delamination.Key words: Nanoindentation; delamination; cyclic loading; energy release rate A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT IntroductionThe assessment of the adhesion properties of a thin film is imperative to ensure the reliability of the film/substrate system over its life cycles [1]. As a consequence, there is an increasing demand for developing reliable techniques to measure the interfacial adhesion between a film and a substrate. In the past few decades, significant research effort has been directed towards developing approaches to evaluate the adhesion property [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Among the available techniques, indentation enables the investigation of interfacial adhesion of a film/substrate system to be undertaken in a controllable manner by generating interfacial cracks on a sufficiently small scale and at a specific site [8].In our previous work, a dual-indentation method was developed to assess the interfacial adhesion of SiN/GaAs film/substrate systems [9]. This method was successfully applied to the SiN/GaAs film/substrate systems with different interfacial properties. The limitation of the dual-indentation approach was that interfacial delamination must be induced during the first ...

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“…22,[33][34][35][36] However, superlayers often can complicate the fracture behaviour; moreover, the harsh deposition conditions may cause unwanted changes to the original interface properties and lead to multiple surface 37 and interfacial cracking events that are not necessarily taken into account in the analyses. 34,[38][39][40][41] Several other methods have also been documented, such as scratch tests, 35 cross-sectional indentation, 17,42 micro-wedge indentation 43,44 and energy-balance techniques techniques, [45][46][47][48][49] all of which have their own particular advantages and disadvantages for specific applications.…”

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“…Consequently, the method is often unable to isolate the microscale interfaces that exist within 'patterned' multilayers. Top surface [8][9][10], as well as cross-sectional nanoindentation [11][12][13] are methods that have proven effective at initiating microscale delamination in a variety of thin films and multilayers. However, the complex stress state induced in a specimen during an indent is accompanied by unavoidable plastic deformation [9].…”

“…A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T the details of which can be found elsewhere [8]. An aluminium film was deposited onto the SiN film by direct-current magnetron sputtering using an Auto 500 Sputter Coater (HHV Technologies.…”

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“…The schematic diagrams of (a) the three stages of nanoindentation fracture for thin hard coatings coated system ) and (b) the P-d curve and the fracture energy evaluation is based on previous works. (Li et al, 1997;Li and Bhushan, 1998) More recently, Lu and Huang (2015) characterized the interfacial energy release rate of the relatively tough SiN/GaAs film/substrate system via cyclic indentation loading. Their results show that the film experiences the hardening effect, and subsequently sufficient elastic strain energy is allowed to be accumulated and the interfacial delamination can be initiated.…”