In this chapter, application of optical interferometry for the characterization of thin-film adhesion to the substrate is discussed. The thin-film system is configured as one of the end mirrors of a Michelson interferometer and oscillated with an acoustic transducer from the substrate side. The oscillation causes sinusoidal displacement of the film surface around the initial (neutral) position, and the interferometer detects its amplitude as the relative phase difference behind the beam splitter. When the driving frequency of this oscillation is tuned to a range where the film-substrate interface is dominantly oscillated, the elasticity of the interface can be analyzed from the oscillation amplitude. The principle of this method is straightforward but in reality, fluctuation of the initial phase (the relative phase corresponding to the initial film position) compromises the signal. A technique known as the carrier fringe method along with spatial frequency domain analysis is employed to reduce the noise associated with the initial phase fluctuation. The possibility of the present method to analyze the so-called blister effect on thin-film adhesion is discussed.
Part of the book: Optical Interferometry
Residual stress analysis based on co-application of acoustic and optical techniques is discussed. Residual stress analysis is a long-standing and challenging problem in many fields of engineering. The fundamental complexity of the problem lies in the fact that a residual stress is locked into the material and therefore hidden inside the specimen. Thus, direct measurement of residual stress in a completely nondestructive fashion is especially difficult. One possible solution is to estimate residual stress from the change in the elastic constant of the material. Residual stress alters the interatomic distance significantly large that the elastic constant is considerably different from the nominal value. From the change in the elastic constant and knowledge of the interatomic potential, it is possible to estimate the residual stress. This acoustic technique (acoustoelasticity) evaluates the elastic modulus of the specimen via acoustic velocity measurement. It is capable of determining the elastic modulus absolutely, but it is a single-point measurement. The optical technique (electronic speckle pattern interferometry, ESPI) yields full-field, two-dimensional strain maps, but it requires an external load to the specimen. Co-application of the two techniques compensates each other’s shortfalls.
Part of the book: New Challenges in Residual Stress Measurements and Evaluation