Mechanical properties using depth sensing nanoindentation

Mechanical Properties Using Depth Sensing Nanoindentation... 

Depth-sensing nanoindentation is one of the primary tools for nanomechanical mechanical properties measurements. Major advantages to this technique over AFM include (1) simultaneous measurement of force and displacement (2) perpendicular tip-sample approach and (3) well-modeled mechanics for dynamic measurements. Also, the ability to quantitatively infer contact area during force-displacement measurements provides a very useful approach to explore adhesion mechanics and models. Disadvantages relative to AFM include lower force resolution, as well as far lower spatial resolution, both from the larger tip radii employed and a lack of sample positioning and imaging capabilities provided by piezoelectric scanners. 

Experimental techniques most commonly used to probe the plastic properties of thin film materials involve direct tensile loading of either a freestanding film or a film deposited onto a deformable substrate material, microbeam bending of films on substrates, substrate curvature measurement or instrumented depth-sensing nanoindentation. Sahent features of these methods, as well as specific examples of the adaptation of these methods for the study of mechanical properties in thin films, are briefly addressed in the following subsections. 

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