On the identification of CrN thin films elastic-plastic properties using nanoindentation technique and finite element modeling (FEM)

In this work, intrinsic thin films elastic-plastic properties such as Young modulus E, yield stress sigma(y) and strain hardening exponent n were identified using numerical methods based on dimensional analysis, finite element modeling and solving inverse analysis algorithms. Four methods from literature were selected to identify thin films properties with considering substrate effects. Moreover, the efficiency of the numerical models was discussed using numerical verification by comparing the identification results to the properties introduced in the simulations. The mechanical properties of CrN thin films were finally identified using these models. The identification results were compared to CrN mechanical properties reported from the literature and the good agreement shows that three of these numerical methods can be applied in the case of thin films.