Open Access

ARTICLE

Theoretical Study on the Bilayer Buckling Technique for Thin Film Metrology

Fei Jia¹, Xiu-Peng Zheng^1,2, Yan-Ping Cao^1,3, Xi-Qiao Feng¹

1 AML, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
2 CNNC China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd. Beijing 100840, China
3 Corresponding author: Tel.: +86 10 62772520; e-mail: caoyanping@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

Computers, Materials & Continua 2010, 18(2), 105-120. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmc.2010.018.105

Abstract

Recently, a novel technique based on the wrinkling of a bilayer composite film resting on a compliant substrate was proposed to measure the elastic moduli of thin films. In this paper, this technique is studied via theoretical analysis and finite element simulations. We find that under an applied compressive strain, the composite system may exhibit various buckling modes, depending upon the applied compressive strain, geometric and material parameters of the system. The physical mechanisms underlying the occurrence of the two most typical buckling modes are analyzed from the viewpoint of energy. When the intermediate layer is much thicker than the top layer, the condition under which the bilayer buckling will occur prior to other modes is given. The results reported here may facilitate the design of the bilayer buckling technique for the thin film metrology.

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Keywords

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