Sub-critical telephone cord delamination propagation and adhesion measurements

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Sub-critical telephone cord delamination propagation and adhesion measurements Alex A. Volinsky and Patrick Waters University of South Florida, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tampa FL 33620 USA, [email protected]; http://www.eng.usf.edu/~volinsky James D. Kiely and Earl C. Johns Seagate Technology, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 USA ABSTRACT Thin film delamination can occur when the stored elastic energy per unit area in the film due to the residual stress exceeds the interfacial toughness. Telephone cord morphology is commonly observed in delaminating thin films under compressive stresses. Here, the biaxial film stress is partially relieved by film buckling in the direction perpendicular to the telephone cord propagation, and by “secondary” blister buckling in the direction of telephone cord propagation, which results in the sinusoidal fracture patterns. A superlayer indentation test, in which additional stress is supplied to the crack tip using a nanoindenter, can be used to measure the interfacial toughness. Estimates of the energy release rate for diamond-like carbon (DLC) films on magnetic media were obtained using the superlayer indentation test, as well as the delaminated buckling profiles. The results obtained by these two independent methods are in good agreement with each other. We find the average adhesion energy to be 6 J/m2 for DLC films on magnetic media. Normally telephone cord blisters “run out of steam” and stop once the interfacial toughness exceeds the strain energy release rate. It is possible to make blisters propagate further by either putting mechanical energy into the system, or by introducing liquids at the crack tip, thus reducing the film interfacial toughness. Environmental species can assist cracking and contribute to thin film delamination, which is readily observed in vintage mirrors. Crack propagation rates on the order of microns per minute were measured for DLC films in different fluid environments. We identify how telephone cord buckling delamination can be used as a test vehicle for studying crack propagation rates and environmentally assisted cracking in thin films. INTRODUCTION Thin film adhesion is a very important property, specifically for the microelectronics and the hard drive industry, as well as for the growing field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). With the growing number of applications, there is a wide variety of environments that these devices are being exposed to. Designers are not only concerned with the electrical and mechanical properties of the materials in these devices, but also how they will hold up in potentially corrosive environments. In certain applications thin films are used as protective barriers against damage caused by friction due to moving parts or by corrosion due to the environment [1]. One example would be diamond-like carbon (DLC) films used as a protective and low-friction barrier layer between the writing head and the magnetic media in hard

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drives. Regardless of the application though, it is important to have strongl