ACOUSTIC-EMISSION AND PRECISION FORCE-DISPLACEMENT OBSERVATIONS OF SPHERICAL INDENTATIONS INTO TIN FILMS ON SILICON

Simultaneous measurements have been recorded of the force, displacement and acoustic emission (AE) events during the loading and unloading of a spherical indenter onto a PVD 2.7 mu TiN film on silicon. The AE events were able to detect the onset of film cracking during loading and film delamination during unloading. The measured data are also compared with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) cross-sectional observations of the indented region. Excellent agreement between AE, force-displacement and SEM observations is found.