Measurement and Analysis of AFM-Based Nano-Indentation on Micro-Machined Silicon Surface

Atomic force microscope (AFM) could be used as a micro-machining tool if it is equipped with a diamond tip instead of a normal imaging tip. Alternatively the AFM diamond tip could also be used as a nano-indenting tool following the micro-machining process in realizing the measurement of the mechanical properties inside and outside the micro-machined region. The results show that for the AFM-based micro-machining with a diamond tip on chemical-mechanical polished silicon wafer, the deformed layer could be formed even under very small machining force, however it is smaller than the deformed layer formed by means of chemical-mechanical polishing. The nano-scaled hardness values of silicon measured by AFM are bigger than the hardness values measured by traditional Vickers and Hysitron indenting tester. In addition, as the indenting loads decreases, the nano-scaled hardness values present a trend of increasing, which was considered due to the indenting size effect under very small indenting loads.