Indentation Creep of Molybdenum: Comparison Between Thin Film and Bulk Material

Abstract

AbstractIndentation creep, load relaxation, and rate-change experiments probe room temperature and 80°C creep properties of a 1.3 μm-thick molybdenum film on silicon. The film, with 0.51 GPa compressive stress, 8 GPa hardness and estimated 40 nm grain size, was deposited using steered-arc evaporation at -17V bias. Despite its small grain size and high hardness, the thin film behaves like bulk molybdenum does: the rate sensitivity of the hardness is only weakly-dependent on measurement path (as with bulk material), and activation volumes calculated based on strain rate sensitivity are consistent with those of bulk molybdenum We suspect deformation mechanisms are similar to those in bulk molybdenum under similar conditions.