Non-contact AFM with a nanoindentation technique for measuring the mechanical properties of thin films

The true residual area measured from atomic force microscopy (AFM) images can subsequently be used to recalculate the hardness of the material measured by nanoindentation more accurately. In this study, nanoindentation with non-contact AFM has been used to investigate the mechanical properties of thin CN films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on silicon (100) substrates. Micro Raman spectroscopy was used to measure the structural properties of the CN film. The hardness was determined at different loads and depths from nanoindentation using conventional analysis by the well known Oliver and Pharr method. The indents were imaged using AFM, and true residual contact areas as well as hardness values were determined. The hardness values obtained by AFM agreed with the hardness measured by the Oliver and Pharr method.