A Nondestructive Method for Probing Mechanical Properties of a Thin Film Using Impacts with Nanoclusters

Abstract

The impact of an argon (Ar)-cluster ion on a thin film is evaluated in order to investigate a new method for probing the mechanical properties of the thin metallic film. Using a molecular dynamic (MD) method, we show that an Ar nanocluster ion with an incident velocity of 4[Formula: see text]km/s dissociates in approximately 1[Formula: see text]ps without sputtering the atoms of a target sample. After the impact, the Ar ion is scattered from the target surface with several neutral Ar atoms. The number of neutral atoms combining with the Ar ion and the velocity of the Ar ion depend on the mass density and Young’s modulus of the target. Analyzing these dependencies, we find that the mass density and Young’s modulus of thin films can be simultaneously determined by measuring the mass and velocity of the Ar-cluster ion scattered from the sample surface.