Young's modulus measurement of aluminum thin film with cantilever structure

Micromachined cantilever structures are commonly used for measuring mechanical properties of thin film materials in MEMS. The application of conventional cantilever theory in experiment raises severe problem. The deformation of the supporting post and flange is produced by the applied electrostatic force and lead to more reduced measurement value than real Youngí»s modulus of thin film materials. In order to determine Youngí»s modulus of aluminum thin film robustly and reproducibly, the modified cantilever structure is proposed. Two measurement methods, which are cantilever tip deflection measurement and resonant frequency measurement, are used for confirming the reliability of the proposed cantilever structure as well. Measured results indicate that the proposed measurement scheme provides useful and credible Youngí»s modulus value for thin film materials with sub-micron thickness. The proved validation of the proposed scheme makes sure that in addition to Youngí»s modulus of aluminum thin film, that of other thin film materials which are aluminum alloy, metal, and so forth, can be extracted easily and clearly.